A Muslim Couple Finds the Vaccine for Covid-19
By Dr Aslam Abdullah
A Covid-19 caccine with the claim of 90% effectiveness is finally here. The credit to develop it goes to a Muslim couple from Turkey, physicians Ugur Sahin and Oezlem Tuereci.
The 55-year old physician and his 53-year old wife formed the dream team that gave the world a real hope tor the vaccine. Pfizer and BioNTech claim the product is 90 percent effective and would soon be available. It's development marks a breakthrough in the world of medicine.
Born in Turkey and raised in Germany, Sahin belongs to an immigrant family that worked in a Ford factory. He became a physician with specialization in immunotherapy. His wife, Oezlem Tuereci, 53, is a board member of BioNTech, a company owned by her husband. She is the daughter of a Turkish physician who had migrated to Germany.
Şahin was born in Iskenderun, Turkey. At the age of four, he immigrated to Germany with his parents. His father worked in the Ford factory. He studied medicine at the University of Cologne, graduating in 1990, and obtained a PhD from the same university in 1993. Following an eight-year residency at the Saarland University Hospital, he joined the University of Mainz faculty in 2000 and achieved professorship in 2008.
He married Özlem Türeci in 2002, and they went on to have a teenage daughter. Even on the day of their wedding, they found time to work. Both love teaching and research and co-founded a company to develop cancer immunotherapy tools. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation invested $55 million in the company.
Both Şahin and Özlem are humble and lead a modest life despite being among the 100 wealthiest people in Germany. Sahin still rides his old bike. Their contribution to the Covid-19 vaccine is a remarkable event in the world's history, giving hope to millions who suffer from the pandemic. There are 51 million Coronavirus cases with a death toll of 1.3 million. The cases are on the rise. The vaccine will enable people to recover and countries to revive their economies.
The couple deserves a Nobel Prize for their contribution, and the world owes its respect to them. The Islamophobes once considered their faith community and country misfits for human civilization. Yet, they proved the community is dynamic and capable of producing individuals who care for humanity and struggle to make it better.
But the couple is not the only one in the Muslim community dedicated to make scientific breakthroughs. A Tunis-born Muslim scientist Dr Moncef Mohamad Slaoui is leading Operation WARP Speed announced by President Donald Trump to rapidly develop and distribute a coronavirus vaccine in the United States.
An ethnic Berber born in Agadir's Moroccan coastal city, Dr Saloui is author of over 100 scientific papers. Other outstanding Muslim researchers include Dr Syra Madad, Pakistani-American head of New York City's Health and Hospitals System-wide Special Pathogens Program, Dr Saud Anwar in Connecticut, Dr Gul Zaidi in New York, and Dr Umair Shah in Texas. Their work has received positive media coverage in recent weeks.
Dr Saud Anwar is a Connecticut pulmonologist and state senator. Dr Gul Zaidi is an acute-care pulmonologist in Long Island, and Dr Umair Shah is from Houston, Texas.
(Dr Aslam Abdullah is resident scholar at islamicity.org . He is editor in chief of Muslim Observer and a trustee of American Federation of Muslims of Indian Origin. He gives Friday sermons at Islamic centers in California and other states)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Back to Pakistanlink Homepage
