The upturn in the German economy last year, as compared to the first pandemic year of 2020, when the economy was mostly at a standstill, would probably have been much less without the success of BioNTech with its COVID-19 vaccine. By at least as much as 0.5%, the now world-renowned Mainz-based company is likely to have contributed to gross domestic product growth, according to estimates by both the trade union-affiliated Macroeconomic Policy Institute (IMK) and the Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW). “There is a clear BioNTech effect,” IMK Scientific Director Sebastian Dullien told Reuters on Jan. 14.