German pharmaceutical company BioNTech is confident that its coronavirus vaccine works against the new UK variant, but further studies are needed to be completely sure, its chief executive Uğur Şahin said Tuesday, Report informs, referring to Business Standard.
The new strain, detected mainly in London and the southeast of England in recent weeks, has sparked global concern because of signs that it may spread more quickly. While there is no indication it causes more severe illness, numerous countries in Europe and beyond have restricted travel from the UK as a result.
"We don't know at the moment if our vaccine is also able to protect against this new variant," Şahin told a news conference the day after the vaccine was approved for use in the European Union. "But scientifically, it is highly likely that the immune response by this vaccine also can deal with the new virus variants."
Şahin said that the proteins on the UK variant are 99% the same as on the prevailing strains, and therefore BioNTech has "scientific confidence" that its vaccine will be effective.
"But we will know it only if the experiment is done, and we will need about two weeks from now to get the data," he said. "The likelihood that our vaccine works ... is relatively high."