Pfizer and BioNTech are confident that they will have the Covid-19 vaccine approved in mid-October or early November.

"It has an excellent record and I consider this vaccine to be almost perfect," said Ugur Sahin, chief executive and co-founder of German biotech company BioNTech today about BNT162, the Covid- vaccine.

The two companies say they plan to deliver 100 million doses of BNT162 by the end of this year and about 1.3 billion doses next year.

In July, the Department of Health and Human Services and the US Department of Defense announced a $ 1.95 billion deal with Pfizer to produce 100 million doses of Covid-19 vaccine.

Sahin said he believes the emergency licensing of this vaccine candidate will be quickly approved by the authorities, adding that "an understanding of how it works along with safety data from the process.

"We believe we will have a safe product and we also believe we can prove it to be effective," he said.

The CEO of BioNTech said clinical trials on elderly and young adults showed a very strong antibody response, with very minimal side effects.

"Only a small percentage of the participants have a fever," Sahin said.

Although BioNTech and Pfizer believe their vaccine will likely be approved by mid-October, many federal officials say it is a "too optimistic" timeline.

"I have not seen any scientist involved in the vaccine development think that we will have the shots before the 3/11 election," said an official familiar with the company's own rapid vaccine development project.

Song Moncef Slaoui, chief adviser at Operation Warp Speed, last week told the NPR that "extremely unlikely but not impossible" for a Covid-19 vaccine to be approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA

US President Donald Trump has also repeatedly said that he is "optimistic" about a vaccine that was approved for use before November 3.

BioNTech and Pfizer are two of nine pharmaceutical companies that have signed a pledge to maintain "high ethical standards", stating that they are not allowed to seek early government approval for vaccines.

However, Sahin said that the two companies will quickly apply for a license to BNT162 candidates, believing that the complete process has been completed.

"I believe that with we complete the required vaccine development protocol, including scientific research, preclinical studies, safe receptivity testing and efficacy testing, there is no need

BioNTech's BNT162 and Pfizer are among 34 vaccines currently in clinical trials globally, according to the World Health Organization.