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Comment by mrtksn | Hacker News Reader

> Does anyone have a list where BionTech distributes directly?

It's Germany and Turkey.

In a press release earlier this year[0], BioNTech described their relationship with Pfizer and they listed the countries it covers. Also, for China they have another company instead of Pfizer.

Why Germany and Turkey, you may ask? Well, the inventors and founders of the company are Turkish immigrants to Germany. So they are able to give the vaccine on special terms to the country they came from and the country that made them. To be honest, Turkey is extremely lucky that they feel like helping out the motherland. Thanks to them, Turkey has abundance of the vaccine and probably at a good price.

[0] https://investors.biontech.de/news-releases/news-release-det...

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You wrote: <<the inventors and founders of the company are Turkish immigrants to Germany.>>

I double checked on Wiki. There are two founders -- husband and wife. While both have Turkish heritage, only one is a Turkish immigrant. To be fair, I agree with the overall sentiment of your comment!

Husband: Uğur Şahin was born in Turkey, and immigrated to Germany at age 4

Wife: Özlem Türeci was born in Germany. Her parents immigrated to Germany from Turkey.

If anyone is interested to learn more about these amazing scientists, I recommend that you watch the YouTube video where they are interviewed by CEO Mathias Döpfner for one hour after winning the Axel Springer Award in 2021: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B4u4JzAZQoc

You can say one is 1st generation immigrant, and other is 2nd gen: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Immigrant_generations

Sorry, but I need to push back against this sentiment. Where is the limit? It strikes me as exclusionary, and many other young, educated Germans have agreed with me on this specific point. When I lived in California, I met Chinese Americans who had lived in the United States longer than my family (1850s, 5+ generations). With a purely reductionist view, does everyone remain an immigrant in the United States ad infinitum except Native Americans? Is that also true in Malaysia, Canada, Peru, Taiwan, Brazil, New Zealand, Fiji, and Australia from their/your cultural view? It strikes me as "Ad Absurdum". To really stir the pot: Considering the recent Black Lives Matter movement, are all African descent people absolutely and continuously for all eternity "immigrants" where ever they live away from the African continent? Repeat for the descendents of the Indian subcontinent, whom form one of the largest diasporas in human history. I have watched and read multiple interviews with Özlem Türeci, and, each time, she specifically pushes back against this posturing: "Oh, but you are 'truly' Turkish."

They are part of the Turkish diaspora in Germany. Wouldn’t know about the exact birth details but they played substantial role in the vaccination program in Turkey.

They also wrote a book

Nice tip! I didn't know about it. I found this: https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250280374

<< The Vaccine: Inside the Race to Conquer the COVID-19 Pandemic

Author: Joe Miller with Dr. Özlem Türeci and Dr. Ugur Sahin >>

Interestingly both last names are written incorrectly on the cover (should have been TÜRECİ and ŞAHİN -- with a dotted capital I). Looks like a bug in the "convert to all caps" function of their publishing or design software. It can't be a font issue as they were able to print "Ğ".

They also have a licensee (and early R&D investor) in China, Fosun Pharma. I don't know if Fosun is actively manufacturing and distributing, but I think they have the exclusive rights for the Chinese mainland, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Macau.

Doses of BioNTech vaccine distributed by gov'ts in Hongkong and Macao were manufactored by Fosun Pharma. As vaccination rate has dropped dramatically since the initial rush, I don't know if Fosun Pharma is still manufacturing the BioNTech vaccine. Weirdly, I still don't think any foreign made vaccines are approved in mainland China.

Wiki: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fosun_Pharma#COVID-19

I cannot find any references via Google that prove Fosun Pharma has exclusive rights for Taiwan. If anyone has any specifics, please reply. Honestly, I doubt it, as Fosun in a mainland Chinese corporation and China was actively blocking Taiwan out of international COVID efforts efforts vis-a-vis WHO (World Health Org).

That is not true. All BioNTech doses used in Hong Kong were manufactured by Baxter in Germany for BioNTech and then distributed in HK by Fosun.

Latest: https://www.info.gov.hk/gia/general/202110/16/P2021101600482...

(they keep falsely claiming Baxter to be a city in Germany. It's a company that manufactures for BioNTech, not a city. https://www.baxter.com/)

I found more: https://www.covidvaccine.gov.hk/en/faq

<< Quality

60. Where is the Comirnaty vaccine supplied to Hong Kong produced? How to ensure the quality of vaccines supplied to Hong Kong?

According to the information provided by Fosun Pharma, the Comirnaty vaccines for Hong Kong will be produced in Germany. Click here to read the package insert.

The vaccine manufacturer must comply with the Pharmaceutical Inspection Co-operation Scheme (PIC/S) Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) standards, or equivalent. The imported vaccine also has a Certificate of Analysis to prove that it meets the specifications. >>

Outstanding. Thank you to correct me! It is so weird that a mainland Chinese company is "arranging" delivery of a vaccine from Baxter (a German company) to Hongkong that is not approved by mainland China. Simply bizarre.

> "Fosun Pharma has been licensed by BioNTech to exclusively develop and commercialize COVID-19 vaccines based on its mRNA technology platform in Chinese Mainland, Hong Kong SAR, Macau SAR and Taiwan region."

https://investors.biontech.de/news-releases/news-release-det... (2020)

Searching the CDC in Taiwan, I was unable to find any press releases announcing they bought vaccines from Fosun Pharma. Everything I could find said they only received BioNTech vaccines when they were donated. Please correct me if wrong. I assume "Taiwan region" is simply something to satisfy the PRC gov't (CCP) which believes Taiwan is a part of its country and governed by PRC.

TW CDC PR: https://www.cdc.gov.tw/En/Bulletin/List/7tUXjTBf6paRvrhEl-mr...

>I assume "Taiwan region" is simply something to satisfy the PRC gov't (CCP) which believes Taiwan is a part of its country and governed by PRC.

To be fair, Taiwan (Officially the Republic of China) also claims that it is a part of China and is in fact the rightful rulers of China. The Kuomintang withdrew to Taiwan after losing control of mainland China to Mao and the Communists. I'm not super up to date on the latest claims between China and Taiwan, but Taiwan has never recognized officially that they do not rightfully control China.

My understanding is that folks locally didn't trust the Fosun-made batches, but Taiwan couldn't purchase vaccines from Pfizer due to Fosun holding the distribution rights

Hence the donations

I tried to Google about this issue, but I couldn't find anything. Can you suggest a link or a Google search? I would appreciate to read more about this issue.

There are no Fosun-made batches.

Just like you I don't take statements like this at face value due to the complexities involved. :-)

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