Open letter to the Nobel Prize Committee
Alles anzeigen[...] Prof. Şahin and Dr. Türeci have provided exceptional leadership in creating a Covid-19 mRNA vaccine that is as effective as any on the planet, with the support of German and European public funds.
And yet it profoundly distresses us that they are even being considered for any Nobel Prize. As we write today, the world is in an extraordinary crisis. 0.3% of Covid-19 vaccines have gone to low-income countries. Some three million more lives could be lost this year to people who do not have access to a Covid-19 vaccine. These could be our co-workers; our parents; it could be us.
Despite the great scientific achievement of BioNTech, Prof. Şahin and Dr. Türeci have in fact rejected efforts that would allow for billions more people to benefit from the science they have created.
Prof. Şahin andDr. Türeci have refused to share their Covid-19 vaccine recipes with the World Health Organization (WHO) that would, ensuring quality control and regulatory oversight, allow for qualified manufacturers worldwide to make the vaccine. And they have undermined efforts by over 100 countries led by South Africa and India to lift intellectual property rules on Covid-19 vaccines that started precisely one year ago.
That is far from what, as Alfred Nobel described, those who “have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind”. Faced with the chance to save millions of lives with their life-saving science, Prof. Şahin and Dr. Türeci have instead chosen to protect their monopoly to create billions of dollars in profits. They prioritized their profitable partnership with Pfizer, but we expected far better from them.
That is why it would be unconscionable that they be awarded any Nobel Prize. We people in poorer countries from Africa, Latin America and Asia put out a desperate outreached hand to Prof. Şahin and Dr. Türeci, asking they held save our lives –and instead they have turned their back to us. [...]