The company expects to adapt current vaccines to new strains.
QUICK FACTS:
- Pfizer CEO says that Americans will likely need to get updated COVID mRNA vaccines “every year” to combat new variants of the illness.
- According to Pfizer-BioNTech CEO Albert Bourla’s comments made during a recent interview on MSNBC, Americans should expect the need for boosters to continue for some time.
- Bourla said he is “almost certain” that there will have to be more vaccinations in the future, even as the occurrence of COVID-19 dwindles.
- The biotech executive cited the potential for changes in the virus giving rise to the need for an adapted vaccine, which the company will achieve “just by changing the sequencing.”
- At this time, Pfizer is expecting $32 billion in profits in 2022 due in large part to its experimental vaccines.
WARNINGS & CALLS FOR MORE VACCINATIONS:
- “I’m almost certain about it. I say ‘almost certain’ because, of course, regulators have final say in all of that. But that’s the beauty of mRNA,” Bourla said, adding that his company can “adapt” the vaccine “just by changing the sequencing. For this reason, I’m very confident we’ll be able to respond very very fast to every new variant,” he added.
- Biden recently asked for additional funding for vaccines saying at a recent event, “We’ll get through at least this year. We do need more money. But we don’t just need more money for vaccines for children, eventually; we need more money to plan for the second pandemic.”
BACKGROUND:
- The FDA and CDC only recently approved the mRNA shots for children under 5 years old, which was due in part to the allowances of Emergency Use Authorization.
- Children as young as six months of age are now being allowed to receive the vaccine.
