BioNTech’s chief medical officer told CNBC on Wednesday that people are likely to need a third shot of his two-dose Covid-19 vaccine as immunity to the virus, and agrees with previous remarks by Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla .
Dr. Ozlem Tureci, the co-founder and CMO of BioNTech, which developed a Covid vaccine with Pfizer, said she also expects people to be vaccinated against the coronavirus annually, as for the seasonal flu. This is because, according to her, scientists expect that immunity to the virus through the vaccine will decrease over time.
“We also see indications of this in the induced but also the natural immune response against SARS-COV-2,” she said in an interview with CNC’s Kelly Evans on ‘The Exchange’. ‘We see that this waning of immune responses also in people who have just been infected and therefore [it’s] also expected with the vaccinations. ‘
Tureci’s comments come after Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla said in an interview on April 15 that people are likely to need a booster shot, or a third dose, of the Covid-19 vaccine within 12 months. He also said it is possible that people will have to take extra shots every year.
Pfizer said earlier this month that its Covid-19 vaccine is more than 91% effective at protecting the virus and more than 95% effective against serious diseases up to six months after the second dose. Moderna’s vaccine, which uses technology similar to Pfizer’s, also appears to be very effective at six months.
Researchers say they still do not know how long the protection against the virus lasts after six months that it has been fully vaccinated, although health officials and health experts expect the protection to diminish over time.
If Americans need a boost survey, the U.S. government will likely have to arrange with the drug manufacturers to deliver additional doses and make plans for the distribution of vaccines.
Andy Slavitt, senior adviser to President Joe Biden’s Covid Response Team, said on Friday that the Biden government was preparing for the possible need for Covid-19 vaccine boosters. He said the government was thinking of getting additional doses.
“I can assure you that when we plan our planning, when the president orders the purchase of additional vaccines as he did and that we focus on all the opportunities for production expansion we are talking about here, we have such scenarios in mind,” he said. said.
Last week, Biden administration’s Covid response scientist David Kessler said Americans should expect to get shots to protect against coronavirus variants. He told U.S. lawmakers that vaccines currently approved are very protective, but he noted that new variants could ‘challenge’ the effectiveness of the shots.
“We do not know everything yet at this time,” he told the House Select subcommittee on the Coronavirus crisis.
“We are studying the durability of the antibody response,” he said. “It seems strong, but there’s a slight decrease in this, and the variant is undoubtedly challenging … it makes these vaccines work harder. So I think only for planning purposes, but only for planning purposes, we should expect that we might have to boost . ‘
Moderna CEO Stephane Bancel told CNBC last week that the company hopes to get a boost shot for its two-dose vaccine in the fall.