The scientist behind the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine thinks the virus might mutate and evade protections provided by inoculation.
Ugur Sahin, chief executive of BioNTech, added that a new vaccine formulation might be needed in 2022.
“This year [a different vaccine] is completely unneeded. But by mid next year, it could be a different situation,” Sahin told The Financial Times.
Sahin said that existing vaccines are effective against the initial variants of COVID-19, including the highly transmissible delta strain.
In fact, a new study indicates that the shot he formulated for Pfzier remains 90% effective at reducing a person’s risk of hospitalization from the virus six months after it is administered.
But new strains might require newly formulated jabs.
“This virus will stay, and the virus will further adapt,” he said. “We have no reason to assume that the next generation virus will be easier to handle for the immune system than the existing generation. This is a continuous evolution, and that evolution has just started.”
Meanwhile, Johnson & Johnson sought approval from the US Food and Drug Administration on Tuesday to offer a booster shot of its COVID-19 vaccine.
The Washington Post interviewed Mathai Mammen, global head of research and development for the Janssen Pharmaceuticals division of Johnson & Johnson:
Based on the data, Mammen said in an interview, the company believes the best immune response occurs when a booster is administered at least six months after vaccination. But he said the company was not formally recommending one interval over another. Instead, the FDA and its outside advisers will determine the appropriate interval between the initial vaccination and the booster, he said.
