NOVEMBER 14, 2020
2020 has been one long wait for the pandemic to finally end, and with the Pfizer’s Covid-19 vaccine, it may finally be near.
Scientists Ugur Sahin and Ozlem Tureci, who have dedicated their lives to finding cures for infectious diseases and cancer, helped develop the Covid-19 vaccine that by Pfizer.
Positive data on BioNTech and U.S. partner Pfizer Inc’s COVID-19 vaccine is an unlikely success for the married couple behind the German biotech firm, who have devoted their lives to harnessing the immune system against cancer. Pfizer said on Monday said its experimental vaccine was more than 90% effective in preventing COVID-19 based on initial data from a large study.
Pfizer and BioNTech are the first drugmakers to show successful data from a large-scale clinical trial of a coronavirus vaccine. The companies said they have so far found no serious safety concerns and expect to seek U.S. emergency use authorization later this month.
From humble roots as the son of a Turkish immigrant working at a Ford factory in Cologne, BioNTech Chief Executive Ugur Sahin, 55, now figures among the 100 richest Germans, together with his wife and fellow board member Oezlem Tuereci, 53, according to weekly Welt am Sonntag.
Sahin told The Guardian, that the vaccine ‘will work.’
“If the question is whether we can stop this pandemic with this vaccine, then my answer is: yes, because I believe that even protection only from symptomatic infections will have a dramatic effect,” he said.
“The vaccine hinders Covid-19 from gaining access to our cells. But even if the virus manages to find a way in, then the T-cells bash it over the head and eliminate it. We have trained the immune system very well to perfect these two defensive moves. We now know that the virus can’t defend itself against these mechanisms,” he further explained.
While the efficiency of the vaccine can be proven – are there side effects? A report in Daily Mail of the volunteers compared the jab’s effects to the likes of a ‘severe hangover’. Many claimed that the shot left them with headaches, muscle pain and fever, much like vaccines for flu.
One 45-year old publicist who volunteered said that first dose left her with side effects experienced to the flu shot, but she experienced severe side effects symptoms after she was administered her second shot.
Courtesy/Source: News18
