About 30 miles down the road in the carnival city of Mainz lies a small biotech Company specializing in cancer research that was founded by the children of Turkish immigrants in 2008. Meet BionTech, the first company to have a COVID-19 vaccination approved in Europe. 

According to CEO Ugur Sahin, he considers himself merely "a scientist" who has never stopped researching over the past 20 years. Of course, a few hundred million dollars from the German government in Berlin is motivation enough to expand the product range a little and to shift the focus. Along with the satisfaction of making history, untold riches are involved.

Sahin explained that he himself has not been vaccinated yet because neither he nor the employees of BionTech are on the priority list. Taking the vaccination as somebody outside of the priority list is illegal, as he points out. What's more, he was not allowed to participate in clinical trials, although he admitted that he is still seeking a legal solution for himself and his people over that. So far, the company has produced 50 million doses of the vaccination and expects the production to increase to over a billion in 2021. 

Sahin reported that he has no time to rest on his laurels, that he and the company are working around the clock to tweak things, including their observations of a possible new, faster spreading, COVID variant now terrorizing Britain, which has started vaccinating its citizens. Germany itself is scheduled to begin with the vaccinations of its people on December 27, beginning with senior citizens and front line health workers. No rest for the weary. What remains unclear is whether the vaccination can prevent the disease altogether, the infection, or both.

This changes nothing about cancer research at BionTech. This will become a focus again as soon as the company can rest, says Sahin, and the world has been provided with ample supply of the vaccination.   

Co-founder Özlem Türeci, Sahin's spouse, is considered the mastermind of the company, although she largely avoids the media. Interestingly enough, on the day Sahin and Türeci married, they attended the ceremony, only to return to work at their lab the same day. Sahin maintains that his mission is "an end to the COVID era." 

Thanks to BionTech, there's a good chance of that happening in the near future. We have all heard about the American Dream. If there is such a thing as the "German Dream," Sahin and Türeci are living it.