Biontech boss Sahin speaks plain text about corona boosters and vaccination breakthroughs

Ugur Sahin, head of the vaccine manufacturer Biontech, speaks plain language in an interview about corona boosters, vaccination breakthroughs and uncertainties about the vaccine.

Mainz - Germany is in the middle of the fourth corona wave, the incidence is rising to a record high and almost 100,000 people with or from a Covid 19 infection have now died.

Above all, the vaccination should no longer allow this value to rise drastically.

But what about breakthroughs in vaccination and why is a booster vaccination necessary at all?

In an interview with

Biontech CEO Ugur Sahin now speaks

clearly and sees "two clear trends."

Corono booster and vaccination breakthroughs: Biontech boss speaks plain language - "two clear trends"

When the corona vaccines were approved at the end of 2020, at least for Biontech-Pfizer, a double vaccination was assumed. Now it seems as if the protection should last a lot shorter than initially thought. Sahin also admits this in an interview. Accordingly, two clear trends emerged from Biontech studies. First: The vaccination against Covid-19 disease begins to decrease from about the fourth month and decrease again from the sixth month "significantly". Second, however, even if you become infected with the virus after a while, the vaccine offers significantly longer protection against serious illnesses.

"If people who have been vaccinated develop Covid-19, it is usually mild to moderate," said the 56-year-old.

This is the case up to the ninth month after the vaccination.

If people who have been vaccinated have a severe course of Covid, it is mainly because of their risk factors.

According to Sahin, these are age, previous illnesses, obesity and a weak or medically suppressed immune system.

Corona vaccination: Interview with Biontech boss - Booster as an aid against breakthroughs in vaccination

Sahin also makes

it clear

in the

interview that people are quite unsettled by the fact that almost half of those hospitalized over 60 years of age have been vaccinated.

There is a simple reason for this, however.

"You have to take into account that the vaccinated in this age group are clearly in the majority," said the Biontech boss.

According to RKI data, 85% of those who have been vaccinated twice in the age group 60 and over are protected from hospital treatment.

Since there are more vaccinated people in this age group, there are also more vaccination breakthroughs, but not necessarily more corona infections.

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Biontech-Pfizer produces the vaccine that has so far been used most in Germany for corona vaccination.

© IMAGO / Martin Wagner

Protection against such a breakthrough in vaccination is offered above all by the booster.

According to Sahin, the booster vaccination not only restores complete protection, "but the immune response can be even higher afterwards." In adults, Covid disease occurs 20 times less often after the booster, there are almost no more breakthroughs in the vaccination and that Protection against serious illnesses will be increased to 97%, so the Biontech boss in the

interview.

Video: Who needs the booster vaccination - virologist explains

Interview with Biontech boss: Annual Corona booster vaccination?

When asked whether a booster vaccination will be needed every year in the future, Sahin does not yet have a clear answer.

It is important that the third vaccination increases the protection again and that it will probably last longer than the protection after the first two bites.

Biontech does not yet have any data on whether and when a fourth vaccination makes sense.

This depends on whether there are further virus mutations or not.

An annual booster vaccination as with the influenza, however, he thinks is quite likely, so Sahin opposite the

.

Editor's note: Second paragraph added on November 21, 1.40 p.m.;

"The vaccination against Covid-19 disease begins to decrease from around the fourth month and decreases again 'significantly' from the sixth month."