By Kaveesha Fernando
MAINZ, Germany (CWBN)_ Chief Executive Officer of German global biotechnology giant BioNTech Ugur Sahin stated on Tuesday (December 22) that it is “highly likely” that the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine is effective against the new COVID-19 strain which has emerged from the UK. However, he added that if the vaccine was found to be less than effective, it could be adjusted for efficacy against the new variant in just six weeks.
Not much is known about the new strain of COVID-19 which was reported last week, although scientists state that the mutations of the new COVID-19 strain seem to make it more infectious than previous strains, adding that over time it has surpassed them to become the most dominant strain.
If the vaccine is not effective against the new strain, this would mean that the vaccination drives which have started or are about to start in many countries would halt, as would the manufacturing process – thus leading to even more delays. Hundreds of thousands of people have already received the vaccine; this includes US President-elect Joe Biden and US Vice President Mike Pence.
Just as the world was hoping for a return to “normal”, news of the new strain caused mass panic. Travel restrictions were imposed for those arriving from the UK, with most countries temporarily halting arrivals from what is seen as the hotbed of the new COVID-19 strain. Oil prices plummeted on Tuesday amidst fears that air travel would halt, while governments across the globe hold internal discussions in an attempt to prevent the spread of this new strain of COVID-19 within their borders.
