FRANKFURT | The world is now “better and better prepared” to face the new variants of COVID-19 with which we will have to live for years to come, assured Thursday Ugur Sahin, boss of the BioNTech laboratory, at the origin of the first vaccine to messenger RNA.
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“Other variants will arrive,” said Mr. Sahin in an interview with AFP, because “the virus will continue to mutate, and other variants are already circulating in the world”.
But “we are always learning more and we are better and better prepared”, added the scientist according to whom “we must accept the fact of having to live another ten years with the virus”.
The German laboratory he heads has developed with the American giant Pfizer one of the two messenger RNA vaccines currently on the market. BioNTech is preparing a new version adapted to the Omicron variant.
After the initial waves, the Delta and then Omicron variants caused new outbreaks in many countries.
“We are coming to a phase where society understands better and better how to face” the virus, however, judged the co-founder of BioNTech.
Data from the ongoing clinical trial of the vaccine adapted to the Omicron variant will “effectively” be available in March, he also said.
He told the Bild newspaper that the serum could be delivered in April or May if necessary, when several countries plan to relax or have already lifted their measures against the pandemic.
Germany has pledged to remove “a large part” of the restrictions currently in place by March 20.
Several European countries, such as England and France, have lifted certain restrictions linked to COVID-19, in a still tense health context. The Netherlands on Tuesday, Austria and Switzerland on Wednesday announced their timetable for a gradual return to normal.
Norway and Denmark are even more advanced and have already dropped most of the measures in recent weeks.