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It has long been mooted that coronavirus will become an annual event, much like the flu. That speculation has been lent further weight after Pfizer Inc’s CEO said he believes people will ‘likely’ need a third dose of the COVID-19 vaccine. CEO Albert Bourla said a potential booster shot would be administered six to 12 months of being fully vaccinated.
Bourla made the announcement during a panel discussion hosted by CNBC in conjunction with CVS Health taped on April 1.
During the panel discussion, the Pfizer CEO went one step further, suggesting that people get vaccinated annually following their third jab.
“There are vaccines that are like polio that one dose is enough…and there are vaccines like flu than you need every year,” he said.
“The Covid virus looks more like the influenza virus than the polio virus.”
Administering the jab annually should corner the virus, achieving what is commonly referred to as “herd immunity.”
‘It is extremely important to suppress the pool of people that can be susceptible to the virus,’ Bourla said during panel discussion.
The long-term immunity offered by the current crop of coronavirus vaccines is unknown but research suggests the Pfizer vaccine is highly effective in the short-term.
A study led by University of Birmingham researchers and supported by the UK Coronavirus Immunology Consortium, compared antibody and cellular immune responses between the AstraZeneca and the Pfizer jab in over 80s.
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