Very cool

yes

yeah

yes, I did

it was very cool to to know  

okay I'm gonna be vaccinated with a  vaccine that I know really from day one

I mean who can tell that they're part of  the solution for such a pandemic situation  

I guess only a few people can say that and  I'm really happy to be part of that

If you've been vaccinated for COVID-19, chances  are that you are benefiting from the science  

happening here at the German biotech company  BioNtech.

In December 2020 BioNtech in partnership with Pfizer

were the first to earn authorization  to distribute their vaccine to the public

In March 2021 TIME spent  a week watching how BioNtech makes a batch  

of 8 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine  at their new manufacturing plant in Marburg  

they expect to produce 1 billion doses a year

the pace of production has been breakneck from the start  

So in 2020 I think we worked 

at every holiday, I can remember Easter  Saturday I was standing here pipetting  

samples to have the results as soon as possible 

and now 24-hour shifts in this lab are producing  

vaccines that will be shipped around the  world

There are approximately 50, 000 steps at the lab  

it begins with bags of pure mRNA the molecule  that tells cells how to make the proteins that  

launch the immune response and a buffer  solution that starts the coding process  

it emerges in bulk at the other end of  the process as a liquid destined for vials

most of the machines are named after  the engineers that developed the process  

this one is named after Margaret the first patient  in the clinical trials to receive the vaccine  

but the beating heart of the lab is this machine a  container that uses pressurized ethanol to encase  

the mRNA and special lipid nanoparticles

those nanoparticles keep the mRNA protected until it  

can jumpstart the immune response in the  body's cells

Speed is essential but inside the lab  everyone moves slowly and methodically 

each of the 50,000 steps is logged by one technician confirmed  by a second and only then does it actually happen  

it's very important that the quality of the  product and all the raw materials is perfect  

here and so no impurities should be present  in all raw materials and nothing which we don't  

want to have in our products

one wrong move has the potential to damage the final product  

if there's any accidental exposure  let's say from an ill-timed sneeze  

the entire batch must be thrown out, all eight  million doses that's why everyone wears layers  

of protection and they even disinfect their  gloved hands repeatedly

in the lab where we were filming no one had ever told  the technicians how many doses were in a batch  

after that they sprayed another application of  disinfectant onto their gloves just to be sure

based on our technology and on  the antigen we were using no I wasn't

I'm very confident in the technology we have

until now vaccine development has been a slow process  

the BioNtech vaccine uses a new technology  based on mRNA it is revolutionizing the way  

vaccines can be produced

When the COVID-19 pandemic broke out, BioNtech was primarily a cancer vaccine company 

but by using this new mRNA technology it was able  

to quickly pivot to a coronavirus vaccine

when you look back at any project you've ever done you've  

always looked back at the start and go wow okay if  I'd known that now i could have cut you know a few  

hurdles out of my way earlier right but you're  in a situation where you're doing something  

especially for us as a smaller company that was  unprecedented

the second part of the process happens at another factory

where vials are filled  and packed into boxes for shipment

as the cycle  comes to an end there's little time to celebrate  after all another batch is waiting to be made