The Washington Post - USA (2020-11-13)

A12 EZ RE THE WASHINGTON POST.FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 13 , 2020

The World

SAUDI ARABIA

Islamic State claims

responsibility for blast

TheIslamic State claimed
responsibilityonThursdayfor
the explosion the previous dayat
acemeteryinSaudi Arabia,
saying it primarily targeted
French diplomatsattending the
ceremonyinr emembrance of the
end ofWorld WarI.
Other Europeans and
Americans wereattending the
ceremonyatt he Non-Muslims
Cemeteryint he coastal cityof
Jiddah.Theblastwounded three
people, leaving them with light
to minor injuries.
TheIslamic State said in a
posting on its news agency,
Aamaq, thatitp rimarily targeted
the French consulattending the
ceremonybecause of his
country’spublication of
caricatures of the prophet
Muhammad.
Theclaim was also carried on
one of the militantTelegram

channels used by theIslamic

State, which said itsfighters

were able to plant theexplosive

deviceat the ceremony. The

militant group offered no proof

for its claim.

In remarks carried by the

state-run SaudiPress Agency,

CrownPrince Mohammed bin

Salman pledged to“strikewith

an ironfist againstanyone who

would liketoundermine our

securityand stability.”

—Associated Press

UKRAINE

Zelensky speaks after

positive virus test

UkrainianPresident

VolodymyrZelenskyaddressed

the nation intwovideos,his first

appearance since being

hospitalized after testing

positive for the coronavirus this

week.

Sitting inachair infront of a

Ukrainian flag,Zelenskysaid he

felt good and thatthe

government was working as

normal.He also spokeabout his

administration’s standoffwith

the Constitutional Courtover

ant i-corruption reforms.

Thepresident, 42, was moved

to ahospital to self-isolate and

not put othersat risk, his office

said.

Three other top officials,

including thefinance minister,

the defense minister and

Zelensky’stop aide, were also

reported to be infected.

“Asyou know,covid-19 has not

avoided me, butIfeel good,”

Zelenskysaid.

Newcoronavirus infections

began spiking in Ukraine in late

September and have remained

consistently high in October and

November.

—Reuters

PORTUGAL

Nightly curfews,

lockdown expanded

Portugal announced an

expansion ofanightlycurfew

and weekend lockdown already

in place across more than 100

municipalities toafurther 77

areas as it scrambles to contain

the spread of the coronavirus.

Residents of affected areas are

asked not to leave the house

except for work, school or

shopping during the week and

muststayhome between 11 p.m.

and 5a.m.

On weekends,alockdown is in

place from1p.m.to5a.m.,

during which all commercial

outlets and restaurants must

shut, withexceptions for

bakeries, pharmacies and

neighborhood grocers.

—Reuters

14 soldiers killed in Burkina

Faso:Thesoldiers were killed on

Wednesdayina nambush by

suspectedIslamistmilitants, the

government said, aboutaweek

beforeapresidential election.

Worsening insecurityint he West

African countryist he main issue

in theNov. 22 vote, when

President RochMarc Kaboré is

seekingasecond term.The

soldiers were killed andafurther

eight wounded in the northern

province of Oudalan, near the

borders withMali and Niger,the

ministryofc ommunication said

in astatement Thursday.

At least74migrants drown off

Libyan coast:Themigrants died

after their Europe-bound ship

capsized offthe coastofL ibya,

the U.N.’s migr ation agencysaid,

the latestinaseries ofat least

eight shipwrecks in the Central

Mediterranean since lastmonth.

Theboatwas carrying over 120

migrants when it capsized offthe

coastofthe Libyanportofa l-

Khums, said theInternational

Organization forMigration. Only

47 people were rescued by the

Libyan coastguard and

fishermen and brought to shore.

Judges from5nations winU.N.

courtseats:Judges fromJapan,

China, Germany, Slovakia and

Uganda won seats on the

International CourtofJ ustice,

the U.N.’s topjudicial organ.In

the contestedrace, eight

candidates were vying forfive

seats ona15-member world

courtbased inTheHaguewhose

job is to settle disputes between

countries.Julia Sebutinde of

Uganda,XueHanqin ofChina,

Yuji Iwasawa ofJapan andPeter

Tomka of Slovakia were

reelected, andGermany’sGeorg

Nolte was elected.

Belize’s newprime minister

sworn in:Afterthree successive

terms in the opposition, Belize’s

People’s United Party(PUP) saw

its leader,John Briceno, sworn in

as prime ministerThursdayafter

winning the country’sgeneral

elections.It was amassive

victoryfor the PUP,sweeping 26

of the 31 seats up for grabs in

Wednesday’sparliamentary

elections.Thevotecame amid

concern over the growing

number of covid-19 infections in

the small Central American

countryand astagnant economy.

—From news services

DIGEST

BYLOVEDAYMORRIS

berlin — At 8p.m.Sunday
evening,the phonerang with the
call Ugur Sahin,chief ex ecutiveof
the German medical start-up
BioNTech, had been anxiously
awaiting.
“Are you sitting down?” Pfizer
chiefAlbertBourla askedhim.
Thenewsthatfollowed was
better thanSahinhad hoped:Pre-
liminaryanalysis from Phase
trials of his company’s coronavi-
rus vaccine showed 90 percent
protection.
“I was morethanexcited,”said
Sahin, speakingtoThe Washing-
ton Post on avideocall from his
home in the westernGerman city
of Mainz.
Theinter im resultsput the
55-year-oldand his co-founder
wife, OzlemTureci, in the frontof
the packracing for asafe and
effectivevaccine. Globalmarkets
rallied, and stock soared for
BioN Tech —asmall-by-pharma-
industry-standards companythat
has yettos ee avaccine using its
technology brought to market.
Forthe corona-wearymasses, it
was amuch-neededglimpse of a
potentialend in sight.
Sah in andTurecicelebrated
with cups of Turkish teaat home.
There weren’t manyother op-
tions, withGermanyunder anew
coronavirus lockdown. Butitwas
also typical of the couple, who are
intensely driven in their work yet
understated in their personal
lives.
Thehusband-and-wife team
behindoneoft heworld’stopcoro-
navirusvaccinecandidatesarethe
sortofpeoplewhodon’townacar
and whotookthe morningoff for
theirwedding dayin2002 before
returning to the lab.Half aday
was “sufficient,”Tureciexplained.
SahinandTureci,bothchildren
of Turkish immigrants to Ger-
many, metwhile working on an
oncologyward in the southwest-
ern cityofHomburg.Theyfound
theyshared an interesting etting
thebody’s immunesystemtofight
cancer.
Sahinwas born in theMediter-
ranean city of Iskenderunand
movedtoGermanywhenhewas4.
Hisfatherwas a“Gastarbeiter,” or
guestworker, at aFord factoryin
Cologne.
Tureci’ sfamily moved toGer-
manyfromTurkey before shewas
born, after herfatherfinished
medicalschool.“Heschleppedme
everywhere whenIwas young,”
she said,“tothe hospital and to
see patients and such.”
In her studies,Tureciwas sur-
prisedbythegapbetweenadvanc-
esinmedicaltechnologyandwhat
was available to doctors and pa-
tients. She and Sahindecided the
bestway to close thatgap was to
launch theirown company.
Founded in 2008, BioNTech’s
workfocusedprimarily on cancer
vaccines using whatisk nownas
messenger RNAtechnology.
Whiletraditionalvaccinesrequire
labor-intensive production of
viralproteins, mRNAvaccin es de-
ploy apiece ofgenetic code that
instructsaperson’s immune sys-
tem to produce the proteinsitself.
Sahinsaid he hadn’t closely
followedthe scienceof thenovel
coronavirus spreading inChina,
but onJan. 24 he receivedascien-
tificpaperthatrangalarmbells.It
described both serious casesand
an asymptomatic carrier.He
Googled“Wuhan”andsa witwasa
well-connected megacitywithan
internationalairpor t.
“That’sthe full pattern you
need forapandemic virus,”he
said.
It took afew days to talk others
at the company into puttingtheir
re sources behindacoronavirus
vaccine, he said, as someexperts
were stilldismissingthe potential

for apandemic ashype. “Ina

company, it’s amatter of convinc-

ingpeoplethattheyneedtoin stall

alot of energy,”hes aid. Energyis

something Sahinexudes as he

talksexcitedly about thevaccine’s

prospects.

It wasa“snowballeffect, ”Ture-

ci said. “Hewas veryconvincing

thatthiskind of pandemic could

develop.”

Within four weeks, thefirst

wave of the epidemic in Europe

was in full swing,and BioNTech

had 20vaccinecandidates as part

of whatitdubbed project“Light-

speed”(no connection to theU.S.

government’s “Operation Warp

Speed”).Withateamofmorethan

1,000 people inMainzworking

“24-7,” Sahin said, the company

narrowed itsmostpromising can-

didates down to four.But it didn’t

have the resources to conduct

large-scale clinical trials or the

productionand distributionthat

wouldbenecessary.

BioNTech approachedPfizer,

with whom theyhad anexisting

relationship, working on influen-

za vaccines.

“Theanswercameimmediately

and wasayes,”said Tureci.In

April, Pfizer invested an initial

$185 million toward thevaccine

development and saiditwould

release upto$563million more

based on milestones in the devel-

opment.

When the interimPhase 3re-

sults camein, Turecisaid,they

took her by surprise.“As ascien-

tist, I’mverycautiousand tend to

be abit pessimistic,” she said.

Sahinsaid the news was“ex-

tremely relieving.”

TheUnited States had already

ordered 100 million doses, with

an option for 500 million more.

TheEuropeanUnion onWednes-

dayagreedonanorder foran

initial 200 million.

Amidthe whirlwind ofpublic-

ity, tweets fromPresidentTrump

have brought somebemusement.

“Completenonsense”ishow Sa-

hin describes the accusation that

the companies satonthe results

untilafter the election.

And as forTrump’s claims of

credit: “I’mnot sure where the

U.S. government would have had

inputint his, ”Tureci said.

Otherworldleadershavesent

The low-key team behind apromising vaccine

Husband-and-wifefounders of Germany’s BioNTechare working with Pfizer to bring their 1st product toacovid-weary world

messages of cautioushope.No

mRNAvaccin ehas received regu-

lator yapprovalbefore, though

scientistsinthe United States,

Britainand China, as well as with

one otherGerman company, are

pursuing similarvaccinesfor the

coronavirus.

Whilethe results are“encour-

aging,” theyare only preliminary,

German health officialssaid at a

news conferenceMonday.

“This isanew virus andacom-

pletely newsituation for man-

kind,” saidSahin.“Thatprovides

an opportunitytoprove thatthe

technologyworks and works fast-

er thanexisting technologies.”

“Manufacturing willbeachal-

lenge,”hesaid. “Itissuch ahuge

amount of doses.It’s far from

beingeasy.” He said it willbet ight

to getany distribution thisyear,

with regulatoryapproval—ifall

goes to plan—not expected until

mid-December.

Sahinand Tureci are now a

billionaire couple, numbering

amongthe 100riches tGermans,

according to theGerman paper

Welt am Sonntag.Sahinsaidhe

can’t avoid watching the stock

pricegoup—“butitdoesn’treally

matterthatmuch.” He’smorecon-

cernedabout getting his first

productto the market.

“Idon’thaveacar.I’mnotgoing

to buyaplane,”said Sahin, who

cycles to workeveryday.“What’s

life-changing is to be able to im-

pactsomething in the medical

field.”

[email protected]

FELIX SCHMITT/CONTACT PRESS IMAGES/AGENTUR FOCUS

Ugur Sahinand OzlemTureci,children ofTurkish immigrantstoGermany, started BioNTech in 2008.Thefirm’scoronavirusvaccinedrewattentionthisweekwhen

Pfizersaidaninterimanalysis showedittobe90percent effective.Thecouple,whodon’t ownacar andtook onlyamorning offtomarry,are nowbillionaires.

Sources:National Institutes of Health;

Centersfor Disease Control andPrevention;

NatureResearch; ColumbiaUniversity AARONSTECKELBERG/THEWASHINGTONPOST

HowRNA vaccineswork

1.RNA

vaccines

containastrip

of genetic

materialwithin

alipid bubble.

2.Once inside

the cell, the

mRNA generates

aprotein found

on thesurface

of the virus.

3.Antigen-presentingcells

(APCs) consume the viral

proteinsand passviral

peptides toT-helper cells,

which activatethe adaptive

immuneresponse.

Cell

Virus

T-helper

cell

Viral

proteins

mRNA in

lipid shell

APC

Killer T-cells

kill virus-

infected cells

Antibodies

fromB-cells

block virus from

THOMAS LOHNES/GETTY IMAGES infectingcells

TheBioNTech officesinMainz,Germany. “Thisis anewvirusand

acompletelynewsituationfor mankind,” Sahinsaid.“That

providesanopportunity to prove that [RNA] technologyworks.”