The founder of BioNTech , partner with Pfizer in making one of the first coronavirus vaccines to be approved for use, is optimistic that the virus will be under control in most European countries by the end of the summer despite a faltering vaccine roll-out.

Ugur Sahin said he was optimistic the problems would prove temporary, adding it was possible to ensure 70 per cent of Germans were vaccinated by the end of September, at which point he said the virus would pose few problems.

“In many European countries and the US we will probably not need lockdowns by summer's end,” he told Welt am Sonntag newspaper. “There'll be outbreaks, but they'll be background noise. There'll be mutations, but they won't frighten us.”