While the vaccine developed by the American laboratories Pfizer and German BioNTech has been shown to be 90% effective against the coronavirus, the vaccination campaign has started in the United Kingdom and the United States, with this vaccine which would have been designed in a few hours by BioNtech co-founder Ugur Sahin.
The precious vaccine designed in a few hours
Created in 2008, the pharmaceutical laboratory BioNTech is managed by Ugur Sahin and his wife Özlem Türeci, both passionate about biology and oncology – the study of cancer cells. BioNTech co-founder Ugur Sahin is believed to be behind the vaccine that can protect against SARS-CoV-2. Indeed, he would have designed it in a few hours in mid-January according to The Journal, a podcast of the Wall Street Journal. In just one weekend, the phase of ” rough design Would have been made. This is a first since no other vaccine in history has indeed been created and manufactured so quickly. Its competitor, the Moderna laboratory, would have meanwhile to develop its vaccine in 2 days according to Business Insider. The last record for speed of development was 4 years between conception and exit from the laboratory.
Speed of conception thanks to messenger RNA
This development is explained by the innovative technology known as ” Messenger RNA “. This molecule is present in all living things and is almost identical to DNA. It will be incorporated via the vaccine into the body to make proteins or ” antigens Specific to the coronavirus. In response, these proteins will trigger an immune reaction and make neutralizing antibodies. They will be able to recognize and fight the coronavirus again if the virus recurs. This vaccine design was made possible because laboratories only needed the genetic sequence of the novel coronavirus to design a vaccine.
