People Will Need Third Covid-19 Vaccine Dose In 12 Months, Says Pfizer CEO

Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla said that people will likely need a third booster dose of the Covid-19 vaccine within 12 months of getting fully vaccinated, CNBC reported based on his comments from April 1, which were made public on Thursday.

The head of the US-based company also mentioned that people may need to get these vaccine shots annually. "We need to see what would be the sequence, and for how often we need to do that, that remains to be seen," Bourla told CNBC in an interview.

Reuters

¡°A likely scenario is that there will be likely a need for a third dose, somewhere between six and 12 months and then from there, there will be an annual revaccination, but all of that needs to be confirmed,¡± he said, adding that much will depend on the nature of the variants.

Pfizer said earlier this month that its Covid-19 vaccine was more than 91 per cent effective at protecting against the coronavirus and more than 95 per cent effective against severe disease up to six months after the second dose.

Reuters

Study to evaluate Covid-19 booster dose

But researchers say more data is needed to determine whether protection lasts after six months.

In late February, Pfizer said in a statement that a booster dose is being studied among people who received their initial two-doses of the vaccine more than six months ago. The new study will monitor the safety and efficacy of a third dose in two age groups: those 18 to 55 and those 65 to 85.

Reuters

¡°While we have not seen any evidence that the circulating variants result in a loss of protection provided by our vaccine, we are taking multiple steps to act decisively and be ready in case a strain becomes resistant to the protection afforded by the vaccine,¡± Bourla said. ¡°This booster study is critical to understanding the safety of a third dose and immunity against circulating strains.¡±

"We believe that the third dose will raise the antibody response 10- to 20- fold,¡± the Pfizer chief told the NBC News.

Reuters

Developed jointly with Germany-based BioNTech, the Pfizer vaccine has so far remained effective against variants first identified in the UK, Brazil and South Africa.