While the world hopes for returning to the world as we knew it, BioNTech CEO Ugur Sahin has said that the deadly virus is going to stay with us for the next decade at least.
In a virtual press conference, Sachin explained how we will have to adhere to new normal for more time than expected as the virus is here to stay.
“We need a new definition of normal. The virus will stay with us for the next 10 years,” he told media persons.
Talking about the new covid-19 strain that is currently spreading in the United Kingdom, Sachin said that he was confident that it would not affect the efficacy of the vaccine.
“In principle, the beauty of the messenger technology is that we can directly start to engineer a vaccine which completely mimics this new mutation – we could be able to provide a new vaccine technically within six weeks,” he was quoted as saying in media reports.
Earlier, Matt Hanock, US health secretary had expressed concern over the new variant and said, This new variant is highly concerning because it is yet more transmissible and it appears to have mutated further than the new variant that has been discovered in the UK.”
Notably, BioNTech’s covid-19 vaccine, developed in collaboration with US pharmaceutical giant Pfizer is currently being administered in 45 countries across the world after receiving approval from concerned officials.
Meanwhile, the overall number of global coronavirus cases has topped 79.8 million, while the deaths have surged to more than 1.74 million, according to the Johns Hopkins University.
