BioNTech- Pfizer Omicron vaccine delayed, says BioNTech Chief Ugur Sahin

Once the vaccine is ready, the company would assess whether it was still needed, Sahin said.

"If the wave ends, that does not mean it can't begin again," he told Bild in a video interview, adding that BioNTech was in a position to continue creating new vaccines as variants emerged if needed.

Read also: Concerns mount on short shelf life of AstraZeneca COVID vaccine

"I really don't see the situation as dramatic anymore," he said, referring to how the coronavirus would develop in future.

BioNTech had previously expected to launch the vaccine by end of March, but said in late January that this depended on how much clinical data regulators would require.