İYİ Party calls on parliament to nominate co-founders of BioNTech for Nobel prize

ANKARA

İYİ (Good) Party leader Meral Akşener has said they would move a motion in parliament to nominate the Turkish-origin co-founders of German biotechnology company BioNTech for the Nobel prize for leading vaccine development against COVID-19.

“Uğur Şahin and Özlem Türeci have done a great service to humanity by finding the mRNA vaccine against COVID-19. In addition, we know that our professors have made great progress in cancer research. In other words, even if there was no COVID 19 pandemic, they had a worldwide prestige in scientific circles due to their studies on cancer,” Akşener said, addressing her party’s parliamentary group meeting on June 16.

“That’s why today, as the İYİ Party group, we will demand that the Turkish Grand National Assembly nominate these two scientists, who are the pride of Turks, for Nobel prizes for their contributions to humanity and the world of science, “she said.

“Uğur Şahin and Özlem Türeci are the unforgettable, loyal children of the Turkish nation, whom we will forever remember with pride. We expect the support of all parties in parliament for this important move,” she added.

BioNTech, which was founded by Tureci and Sahin -- both children of Turkish immigrants in Germany -- in 2008, managed to develop the world’s first effective coronavirus vaccine together with its U.S. partner Pfizer.

BioNTech aims to produce a total of 2 billion doses of the vaccine this year at six production facilities in various countries.