BioNTech CEO Confident Vaccine Will Work On New COVID-19 Variant

The CEO of the German pharmaceutical company BioNTech SE - ADR BNTX announced Tuesday morning that he was "scientifically confident" the company's vaccine would be just as effective against a new strain circulating in Europe.

The strain, most commonly found in London and southeastern parts of London, has a reported 70% higher transmission rate.

With early testing and reports showing this new strain has a 99% similarity between the proteins, CEO Ugar Sahin said the vaccine will still be just as effective, according to NPR. 

The new strain will undergo strenuous testing to ensure that the vaccine is effective in combating the virus, according to the company.

If any modifications are needed to be made to the vaccine in order to accomodate the new strain, it will take as long as six weeks to do and to obtain approval from regulatory committees before people could receive a potentially modified vaccine. 

The vaccine, developed in partnership with Pfizer Inc. PFE, has began its rollout following emergency use authorization by the FDA and the European Union.