Pfizer CEO and Chairman Albert Bourla has predicted the resumption of normal life in one year stating that annual COVID-19 shots would be necessary to fully control the disease.
“Within a year I think we will be able to come back to normal life,” said Bourla.
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In an interview, he however said: “I don’t think that this means that the variants will not continue coming, and I don’t think that this means that we should be able to live our lives without having vaccinations.” “But that, again, remains to be seen.”
Pfizer CEO’s prediction was in line with that of Moderna CEO Stéphane Bancel who also said that the COVID pandemic would end in a year.
“The most likely scenario for me is that, because the virus is spread all over the world, that it will continue seeing new variants that are coming out,” Bourla said. “Also we will have vaccines that they will last at least a year, and I think the most likely scenario is annual vaccination, but we don’t know really, we need to wait and see the data.”
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On Tuesday, Tom Frieden, former head of the CDC, criticized Moderna and Pfizer for not sharing vaccination intellectual property data more broadly to help accelerate global vaccination rates.
“While focusing on selling expensive vaccines to rich countries, Moderna and Pfizer are doing next to nothing to close the global gap in vaccine supply. Shameful,” Frieden said in a tweet. (AW)
