Moderna CEO proclaims fourth dose of COVID-19 vax will be needed this fall

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The Covid-19 vaccine goalposts have been moved again as one of the major pharmaceutical producers is now predicting the need for another booster shot.

The Chief Executive Officer of Moderna revealed that Covid booster shots may not be as effective over time and that a second booster will likely be needed, bringing the total to four shots people will soon be needing in the ongoing battle against the virus.

“I will be surprised when we get that data in the coming weeks that it’s holding nicely over time — I would expect that it’s not going to hold great,” Moderna CEO Stephane Bancel said on Thursday as he discussed booster shots and their waning strength over time.

“I still believe we’re going to need boosters in the fall of ’22 and forward,” he added during a healthcare CEO conference organized by Goldman Sachs, CNBC reported. He indicated that governments, including the U.K. and South Korea, have already begun preparing by ordering doses.

He also reportedly warned that boosters would likely be needed regularly for the elderly or those who have underlying health conditions that already exist.

“We have been saying that we believe first this virus is not going away,” Bancel said. “We’re going to have to live with it.”

“Data from the United Kingdom found that Moderna and Pfizer’s two-dose vaccines are only about 10% effective at preventing symptomatic infection from omicron 20 weeks after the second dose,” CNBC reported.

“However, the efficacy of booster shots starts to decline after about four weeks, according to the study. Boosters were 55% to 70% effective at preventing infection at weeks five to nine, and 40% to 50% effective 10 weeks after receiving the shot,” the outlet added.

Bancel noted in the interview that an endemic stage of the pandemic could soon be reached as the Omicron variant continues its spread and as more people develop immune protection. But he cautioned against making too many predictions as scientists were evidently caught by surprise with all of the virus mutations.

“What is totally impossible to predict, is there a new mutation coming in a day, a week, three months that is worse in terms of severity of disease,” he said. “That’s a piece that we’ll have to just be cautious about.”

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