BioNTech is working flat out with partner Pfizer to boost production of their COVID-19 vaccine, its founders said, warning there would be gaps in supply until other vaccines were rolled out. "At the moment it doesn't look good - a hole is appearing because there's a lack of other approved vaccines and we have to fill the gap with our own vaccine," BioNTech CEO Ugur Sahin told news weekly Spiegel. Mr. Sahin founded BioNTech with his wife, Oezlem Tuereci, who is the company's chief medical officer. "We are testing whether our vaccine can also neutralise this variant and will soon know more," he said. Mr. Sahin also said BioNTech would make its vaccine, which requires storage at about minus 70 degrees Celsius (minus 94Fahrenheit), easier to handle, adding that a next-generation vaccine could be ready by late summer.

Source: The Hindu January 01, 2021 13:11 UTC