Philip Oltermann in Berlin 

BioNTech chief rejects Trump claim it delayed Covid vaccine news

Exclusive: Ugur Şahin says he and Pfizer CEO received results night before announcement
  
  

Prof Uğur Şahin
BioNTech chief excutive, Prof Uğur Şahin: ‘Pharmaceutical research should never be politicised. It’s a question of integrity.’ Photograph: Dominik Pietsch/© BioNTech SE 2020/PA

The scientist behind the BioNTech/Pfizer coronavirus vaccine has defended his company from Donald Trump’s accusation that it deliberately delayed news of its rapid progress until after the election, saying “we don’t play politics”.

BioNTech, a German company, and the US pharmaceutical giant Pfizer announced on Monday that their jointly developed vaccine candidate had exceeded expectations in the crucial phase 3 vaccine trials, proving 90% effective in protecting people from coronavirus infections.

The government’s joint committee on vaccination and immunisation published a list of groups of to be prioritised to receive a vaccine for Covid-19 in the UK. The list is:

1. residents in a care home for older adults and their carers

2. all those 80 years of age and over and frontline health and social care workers

3. all those 75 years of age and over

4. all those 70 years of age and over and clinically extremely vulnerable individuals

5. all those 65 years of age and over

6. all individuals aged 16 years to 64 years with underlying health conditions which put them at higher risk of serious disease and mortality

7. all those 60 years of age and over

8. all those 55 years of age and over

9. all those 50 years of age and over

As of 27 February 2021, at least 20 million adults had received one or more doses of a vaccine.

Once all the top nine priority groups have been offered at least one jab, it will then be given out to the rest of the adult population according to their age group. The age ranges, who expect to be invited for vaccination from around mid-April, are:

1.all those aged 40-49 years

2. all those aged 30-39 years

3. all those aged 18-29 years

Some have argued that there should be prioritisation according to people in vulnerable professions or from ethnicities facing a disproportionate effect from the virus, however the government has countered that to collect and act on this data will take longer than simply using existing NHS data on age.

The US president criticised the timing of their press release. Trump accused the companies of holding back the good news until after the American elections “because they didn’t have the courage to do it before”.

But BioNTech’s chief executive, Prof Uğur Şahin, told the Guardian in a wide-ranging interview he only was notified of the outcome of the interim trials on Sunday at 8pm in a call from the Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla, who himself had only been informed three minutes earlier by the independent monitoring board.

“We want to develop this vaccine as quickly as possible, and we have our own system of coordinates,” Şahin said in response to Trump’s accusation. “Every day counts, and we were desperately waiting for the day of the trial results. It couldn’t come early enough.”

“Pharmaceutical research should never be politicised. It’s a question of integrity. Withholding information would have been unethical. What’s important for us is that we are developing a vaccine and we don’t play politics.”

Others have criticised the two companies for not holding on to their information long enough. Bourla raised eyebrows when he sold $5.6m (£4.2m) in stock as company shares soared on Monday night.

Pfizer says the shares were sold via an automated system after they hit a certain price, under a plan set up in August.

 

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