- Moderna said it hopes to deliver COVID-19 vaccine increases in the U.S. by the end of the year.
- Booster shots are designed to protect against coronavirus variants that cause COVID-19.
- The spread of variants and slow vaccination of vaccines has led to an increase in cases worldwide.
- See more stories on Insider’s business page.
COVID-19 vaccinations will not stop soon.
Moderna said on Wednesday that Americans could start getting a boost survey later this year to protect against coronavirus variants.
“It is likely that the countries that have already achieved high vaccine coverage will be ready to shift their focus to boosters in 2022 and possibly even start at the end of this year,” Corinne M. Le Goff, Moderna’s chief trading officer, said a call with investors.
Le Goff said countries like the US that are vaccinating their populations quickly could start getting shots soon, but because about 5% of the world population has been vaccinated, most countries will continue to give residents the first shots.
“I hope this summer to get the vaccine authorized for a boost so we can help people get a boost before the fall so we all have a normal fall and not an autumn and winter like we did last six months have not been seen, “Moderna CEO Stéphane Bancel said in an interview with Insider on Tuesday.
Read more: GlaxoSmithKline stumbles with COVID-19 shots. Now it faces an exodus of American talent and an uncertain future as the world’s vaccine leader.
In mid-April, the US administered more than 85 million doses of Moderna’s two doses of COVID-19 vaccine. Nearly half of American adults, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, have received at least one vaccine from a Moderna, Pfizer or Johnson & Johnson vaccine.
Although the vaccines allowed for emergency use in many countries are very effective, delays in the implementation and distribution of variants have led to an increase in COVID-19 cases worldwide. Many European countries applied shutdowns and curfews in the ‘third wave’ of the pandemic, and COVID-19 cases reached record highs in India and Brazil this spring.
Epidemiologists have predicted that COVID-19 will become endemic and likely spread as a mild, flu-like illness after the pandemic subsides. Researchers can regularly produce lap shots to protect against new variants, similar to how they develop flu vaccines each season.