On September 1st, the European Medicines Agency will decide on the approval of the special Omicron vaccines from Moderna and Biontech/Pfizer. Biontech wants to deliver its vaccine quickly afterwards, explains company boss Sahin. Another vaccine is in the starting blocks.
Biontech wants to deliver its corona vaccine, which has been adapted to the Omicron variant, within a few days of the approval by the European Medicines Agency EMA, which is expected shortly. "We can deliver very promptly, hopefully from the beginning of September," company boss Ugur Sahin told the "Spiegel".
The EMA recently announced that the responsible committee will decide on September 1st about the applications from Biontech/Pfizer and the US company Moderna for approval of their vaccines adapted to the subtype BA.1. In Germany, this variant no longer plays a role. The hope is that this vaccine will also work better against the currently circulating variants.
The EMA is also currently testing a corona vaccine from the Mainz-based company and its US partner Pfizer that has been adapted to the current Omicron variants BA.4 and BA.5. Biontech is currently submitting the last documents to the EMA, Sahin told the "Spiegel": "Then things can go quickly here too." Basically, there is “no huge difference between the two vaccines”.
In the future, the Biontech boss wants to be able to react more quickly to the spread of new coronavirus variants. "We have developed an early warning system that uses artificial intelligence to constantly analyze the development of the virus," he said. A "top 100 list of variants to be observed" will then be created.
