After his four-day trip to South America, Chancellor Olaf Scholz is expected in Hesse this Thursday. In Marburg, the SPD politician is visiting the plant of the Mainz-based vaccine manufacturer Biontech, as the company announced. There, Scholz wants to get an idea of ​​the new plasmid DNA production and find out more about the manufacturing process, the importance and use of plasmids during a tour.

According to the federal government, plasmid DNA is a key starting material for the production of mRNA-based vaccines and therapies. With the first in-house plasmid DNA production at the Marburg site, Biontech is strengthening its manufacturing capacity for mRNA-based products, the company said. The pharmaceutical company, which is best known for its corona vaccine, is working, among other things, on researching approaches in immunotherapy based on the messenger molecule mRNA and in the fight against infectious and autoimmune diseases as well as cancer.

After his visit to the Biontech plant, Chancellor Scholz wants to take part in a meeting of the Marburg Children's and Youth Parliament and talk to the schoolchildren. In the run-up to the visit to Berlin, deputy government spokeswoman Christiane Hoffmann said it was important for him to talk to the children and young people about what they are currently particularly passionate about. He also wants to learn from the children and young people how youth participation works through the children and youth parliament.

In the evening, Scholz then seeks an exchange with the citizens of Hesse. The so-called Chancellor Talks is the fifth citizens' dialogue in a series of discussion rounds that began last year and will take place in all 16 federal states. For 90 minutes, Scholz answered questions from 150 people who had previously applied to take part.