The United States and other nations will probably need to plan for booster shots and annual vaccinations against covid-19, a senior White House official and the CEO of Pfizer said, as new variants emerge and threaten to escape current vaccines.
President Bidens chief science officer for covid-19 response, David Kessler, told a House subcommittee hearing Thursday that the United States should plan for booster shots in the future.
In remarks from an event earlier this month, but that were also released Thursday, Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla said that a likely scenario included the need for a third vaccine dose six to 12 months after inoculation, after which there will be an annual revaccination.
But all of that needs to be confirmed. And again, the variants will play a key role, he told CNBCs Bertha Coombs during an event with CVS Health. It is extremely important to suppress the pool of people that can be susceptible to the virus.
Kessler, in remarks to the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis, said that the Biden administration was studying the durability of the antibody response triggered by the vaccines.
It seems strong but there is some waning of that and no doubt the variants . . . they make these vaccines work harder, he said. So I think for planning purposes, planning purposes only, I think we should expect that we may have to boost.
More than 564,000 people have died due to covid-19 in the United States, out of over 31 million infections. At least 75 million Americans have been fully vaccinated against the virus.
