Covid vaccine: Test results boost hope for normality by next winter, says BioNTech CEO

Ugur Sahin says it was ‘extremely relieving’ to get initial findings from trials

A scientist behind a potential Covid-19 vaccine with promising initial trial results has said a return to normality could be on the cards next winter, after the impact of the jab would kick in over summer. 

Ugur Sahin, the chief executive of BioNTech, also said the chances of getting the pandemic under control had received a boost with their findings. 

Earlier this week, Pfizer and BioNtech announced their vaccine candidate was shown to be 90 per cent effective in preventing disease during a major trial.

Mr Sahin said the vaccine candidate would not impact infection rates this winter, and the jab could start being delivered from the end of this year or start of 2021, “if everything continues to go well”. 

“Our goal is to deliver more than 300 million of vaccine doses until April next year, which could allow us to already start to make an impact,” he told the BBC’s The Andrew Marr Show on Sunday. 

"The bigger impact will happen until summer, the summer will help us anyway because the infection rate will go down in summer."

The BioNTech CEO said it was "absolutely essential" to have a high vaccination rate before autumn next year to ensure a return to normal life next winter.

Mr Sahin said it was "extremely relieving" to find out their vaccine had proven effective in trials. 

“As a scientist, you of course expect a certain likelihood that the trial could be positive based on the data that we had so far, but there is always unknown factors,” he told The Andrew Marr Show. 

The BioNTech CEO added: “We now know that our vaccine works, and most likely other vaccines will also work.

"So this is really a message which not only changes how we develop vaccines, but also increases the likelihood that we will be able to get this pandemic under control."

The Pfizer and BioNTech announcement on Monday was widely welcomed, with England’s chief medical officer calling it a “reason for optimism”, and Sage member Sir John Bell saying he was confident life in the UK would start returning to normal by spring, if the vaccine candidate gets regulatory approval.

Jonathan Van-Tam, England’s deputy chief medical officer, hailed the findings as a “huge milestone”, and said it was good news for other future vaccines in development. 

He said he was hopeful the vaccine candidate could help to “prevent future waves”, but warned it would not be able to stop the UK’s second one.

Additional reporting by Press Association