The CEO of Pfizer seems to share the optimistic hypothesis put forward by many experts in recent days: "This wave will be the last with so many restrictions," he said on BFMTV on Monday.
“The most likely scenario is that the virus will continue to circulate for many more years.
It is a virus that has spread all over the world and it is very difficult to get rid of it, ”supported Albert Bourla.
But, with "the tools created by science", "I think this wave will be the last with so many restrictions", he said.
While the Cominarty vaccine is the subject of a recall campaign in France, with the 3rd dose, the boss of the American laboratory estimated that, in the long term, an annual injection should be enough.
“For me, it is important to have three doses for a complete vaccination, then one dose per year,” he said, adding that immunocompromised people could be “vaccinated every quarter”.
“We are doing tests to find out the effects of the fourth dose but we don't have the results of these tests yet.
We will have them in March, we will also have data on the effectiveness of the three doses of vaccine, ”he continued.
“A new version” of the vaccine in progress
Albert Bourla also said that Pfizer was working "on a new version of the vaccine which will not only cover the old variants but also Omicron, to fight against contamination, hospitalizations and deaths".
“We are also working on other combinations and we will know which works best in March,” he added.
Asked last Monday on the American financial channel CNBC, he had already announced that a version of the vaccine against Covid-19 adapted to the Omicron variant could be ready in March.
“We hope to be able to come up with a product that will protect much better against infections in particular, because the protection against hospitalizations and severe cases is quite reasonable with current vaccines if you have had the third dose”, he had developed.
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Moderna's CEO, Stéphane Bancel, for his part indicated on Monday that his laboratory was working on a booster dose for this fall also targeting Omicron, which should enter a clinical trial "soon".
“We are currently talking with health officials around the world to decide what we think is the best strategy for the potential fall 2022 recall,” he said on CNBC.