FARGO, N.D. – A third dose of the Pfizer-BionTech coronavirus vaccine will likely be needed within a year.
Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla made the comments during an event with CVS Health that was taped on April 1st, but was just made public.
Bourla said that people will “likely” need a booster shot within 12 months of getting fully vaccinated. Pfizer announced earlier this month that data from more than 12,000 vaccinated people showed the vaccine was more than 91-percent effective against COVID-19, and more than 95-percent effective against severe disease up to six months after the second dose.
“If you ask me, I think there will be a need, based on these data, for revaccinations. We need to see what would be a sequence and for how often. We need to do that,” Bourla said. “The likely scenario is that there will likely be a need for a third dose somewhere between six and 12 months, and then from there, there will be an annual vaccination.”
Bourla adds, the variants will play a critical role and it’s extremely important to suppress the pool of people that can be susceptible to the virus.
