People may need to get COVID-19 vaccine every year, since the original strain of the novel coronavirus is also mutating, according to a vaccine manufacturer.
The CEO of vaccine manufacturer Johnson & Johnson, Alex Gorsk, said: “Unfortunately, as the virus spreads it can also mutate,” he said in an interview on CNBC.
“Every time it mutates, it’s almost like another click of the dial, so to speak, where we can see another variant, another mutation that can have an impact on its ability to fend off antibodies or to have a different kind of response not only to a therapeutic but also to a vaccine,” he added.
Johnson & Johnson has applied for emergency use in the United States for its single dose of COVID-19 vaccine.
Their vaccine showed 66% effectiveness in preventing infections in its latest clinical and global trials.
Gorsky told CNBC the company was “extremely confident” that it will meet its target to deliver 100 million doses of its coronavirus vaccine to the United States by June.
The company is still working on its two-dose vaccines and the data may come on the second half of 2021.
