fact check
Biontech does not doubt the effectiveness of its vaccine
The effectiveness of Biontech’s vaccine has already been proven several times.
© Friso Gentsch/ / Picture Alliance
In the Biontech annual report to the US Securities and Exchange Commission, the manufacturer allegedly doubts the effectiveness of the vaccine. Why this claim is not true.
The vaccine from Biontech has been vaccinated for almost a year and a half. Numerous study results are now available that confirm the effectiveness of the mRNA vaccine. Nevertheless, there are now doubts about vaccination-critical circles. An annual report that Biontech wrote itself is supposed to provide the supposed proof of this. The claim in the fact check.
Claim: “Biontech doesn’t even believe in the vaccination itself,” says the AfD, for example.
Valuation: Not correct.
Background to the annual report
The focus of the allegation against the pharmaceutical company from Mainz is its report to the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) of March 30, 2022 for the 2021 financial year. According to the US Commercial Code, such a report must be submitted annually by foreign stock corporations.
In principle, Biontech refers in this report to the “high level of protection” of the vaccination. The agent offers “a high level of protection against critical variants, including alpha, beta and delta”. According to the company, the latest laboratory studies have also shown that three doses of vaccine were also effective against the Omicron variant.
But one sentence in particular in the 700-page paper heats people’s spirits. Biontech writes: “We may not be able to demonstrate sufficient efficacy or safety of our Covid-19 vaccine and/or variant-specific compounds to warrant permanent regulatory approval in the US, UK, European Union or in other countries where the vaccine has received emergency or conditional marketing authorization.”
Some conclude that even the manufacturer admits to having put an ineffective and unsafe remedy on the market.
Legal background
But that’s not true. The statement is contained in a “Cautionary statement regarding forward-looking statements”. This legal information is prescribed in detail by the stock exchange supervisory authority in order to avoid possible claims for damages by investors.
In the Biontech report, this regulation means that all conceivable influences on company profits and business development must be described. This should enable investors to get an idea of all possible risks.
Potential uncertainties listed include, but are not limited to, competition from other vaccines and their efficacy, cost, shipping and storage options, safety, side effects, and durability of the immune response. Business results could also be impacted by “the extent to which a Covid-19 vaccine will continue to be needed in the future.”
The Biontech vaccine Comirnaty is currently subject to conditional market approval in the European Union. This was first granted in December 2020 and extended by another year in November 2021.
High protection also with Omikron
After an initial emergency approval in the US, the Drug Administration FDA the agent was granted full approval in August 2021.
According to the current state of science, Comirnaty is around 90 percent effective against severe Covid 19 disease when infected with the Delta variant. In the case of the omicron mutant, initial data show according to the Robert Koch Institutethat the protection is less good. In one of Pfizer-funded study after three doses, efficacy against hospitalizations for omicron was 85 percent within the first three months after vaccination. But it dropped to 55 percent after three months or more. At no time during the pandemic have well-known researchers claimed that a corona vaccination protects 100 percent against Covid-19.