Alex Gorsky, Chairman and CEO of Johnson & Johnson, celebrates the 75th anniversary of his company’s listing on the floor on the New York Stock Exchange, September 17, 2019.
Brendan McDermid | Reuters
People may need to be vaccinated against Covid-19 annually for the next few years, just like seasonal flu shots, Johnson & Johnson CEO Alex Gorsky told CNBC on Tuesday.
“Unfortunately, like [the virus] spread can also mutate, “he told CNBC’s Meg Tirrell during a Healthy Returns Spotlight event.” Each time it mutates, it is almost like a different click on the rotary knob, where we can see a different variant, a different mutation that can have an impact on its ability to protect antibodies or to to have other reaction, not only to a therapist but also to a vaccine. ‘
Public health officials and infectious disease experts said there was a high probability that Covid-19 would become an endemic disease, meaning it would be present in communities at all times, although it is likely to be at lower levels than now. Health officials will constantly have to look at new variants of the virus so that scientists can manufacture vaccines to combat them, medical experts say.
Gorsky’s remark comes after J&J said the Food and Drug Administration was applying for an emergency permit for the coronavirus vaccine. Unlike Pfizer and Moderna’s vaccines, which require two doses given approximately three to four weeks apart, J&J requires only one dose, which facilitates the logistics for health care providers.
U.S. officials and analysts on Wall Street are expecting the approval of the J&J vaccination, which could take place as early as this month. President Joe Biden is trying to increase the rate of vaccinations in the US and experts believe his government needs a variety of drugs and vaccines to defeat the virus, which has killed more than 450,000 Americans in the past year, according to information provided by the Johns Hopkins University.
The Department of Health and Human Services announced in August that it had reached an agreement with Janssen, J & J’s pharmaceutical subsidiary, worth approximately $ 1 billion for 100 million doses of the vaccine. According to the announcement, the federal government has the option to order an additional dose of 200 million.
Gorsky told CNBC that the company’s first priority is to work with the FDA to give US approval. He said J&J was working hard on the vaccine, adding that the company was “extremely confident” that it would reach its goal of delivering 100 million doses of coronavirus vaccine to the United States by June.
“We will meet our obligations and at the same time do everything we can to accelerate production safely and effectively,” he said. It is added that people “expect a lot” to get a single shot against the virus.
J&J is also continuing work on a two-dose coronavirus vaccine, he said. The company expects two-stroke vaccine data from clinical trials in the second half of 2021.