The CEO of Johnson & Johnson said on Tuesday that people should be vaccinated against COVID-19 annually for the next few years – similar to seasonal flu shots.
“Unfortunately, this (like the virus) spread can also change,” Alex Gorsky said in an interview on CNBC.
‘Every time it mutates, it’s, so to speak, a click on the rotary knob, where we can see a different variant, a different mutation that can affect its ability to repel antibodies or to to have another response, not only to a therapeutic, but also to a vaccine, ”he added.
Public health officials had earlier warned that the coronavirus would likely stay here.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, the country’s leading expert on infectious diseases, said COVID-19 could become ‘endemic’, meaning it would continue to be part of communities.
“I doubt we’re going to eradicate it,” Fauci said at a virtual health conference last week. “I think we need to plan that this is something we will need to maintain chronic control.”
Gorsky’s comments, meanwhile, come after Johnson & Johnson last week asked the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to authorize its single-dose COVID-19 vaccine for emergency use.
The drugmaker says its shot is 66 percent effective at preventing moderate to severe illness.
The J&J vaccine will offer an important third option – along with Pfizer and Moderna shots – because the US is struggling to spread vaccines against the virus.
However, the J&J version is less effective against a more aggressive virus strain in South Africa, the report states.
The strain, as well as a variant identified in the United Kingdom, has been detected in the USA.