According to the CEO of the US pharmaceutical company Pfizer, it is likely that repeated doses of coronavirus vaccines will be needed annually in the foreseeable future, as this is expected to maintain a very high level of immune protection.
In an interview with BBC British Public Service Television on Thursday, Albert Bourla also spoke emotionally about the fact that distributors of the fake and horror news surrounding the vaccinations reached him and his family.
He said one of the widespread rumors that many still treat as a fact today was that his wife had died of being vaccinated against the coronavirus and that he had been detained by the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) for suspicion of fraud. Of course, not a word is true about all this, “my wife feels great” he added. He said he was laughing at the FBI’s detention, but on the news of his wife’s death, which was accompanied by a photo of his wife, he was already very upset and worried about his family’s safety.
At the same time, the CEO of Pfizer has stated that what he and his family are going through because of this horror news is nothing to the lives of people who are taking it because of the nonsense spread by people who invent the horror news. “Those who really believe my wife has died from the vaccine say I’m not asking for it,” Albert Bourla said.
To the question what argument he would face with the stories spread by those vaccinated, Bourla stated that many people are simply afraid of vaccination and to tell them that love is the only human emotion that is stronger than fear. By deciding whether or not to give the vaccine, people are influencing not only their own health but also that of others, especially those they love best, said the head of Pfizer in a BBC interview on Thursday. “Take the courage to overcome their own fears,” he added.
To the rumour that Pfizer is expected to have sales of $ 35 billion this year and that many believe the company will benefit from the pandemic in a morally questionable way, Bourla said the vaccines have saved millions of lives and saved billions of dollars in losses to world economy.
To the question whether a fourth or even a fifth dose of vaccine could be given after the third dose, Bourla said, based on experience to date, that a booster dose of coronavirus would be needed each year to a “very, very high level of protection”. The British government announced on Thursday that it had contracted another 114 million doses of Pfizer and Moderna vaccines over the next two years. Britain has ordered 54 million doses of the Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine and 60 million doses of the Moderna vaccine by 2022 and 2023, respectively.
According to the UK Department of Health, the deal also covers vaccines that will be adapted by the manufacturers, if necessary, to the most recent variant of omicron coronavirus that contains significant mutations compared to previous versions.
The British Medicines Agency (MHRA) also announced on Thursday that it had approved the use of an antiviral medicine called Xevudy (sotrovimab) in the UK. The drug, developed by the pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), is said to be 79 percent effective in preventing serious illness requiring hospitalization or death from Covid-19 disease in high-risk coronavirus-infected adults.
Albert Bourla said in a BBC interview on Thursday that Pfizer had already developed updated vaccines, similar to omicron, to beta in South Africa and the delta variant that had now been identified worldwide in India, but these were not needed because these variants original vaccines are also effective. However, Pfizer is already working on a vaccine adapted to the omicron variant, which could be ready in a hundred days.
Abert Bourla said Pfizer will produce three billion doses of the vaccine this year and four billion next year. He added that next year, all countries will be able to get as many doses of the vaccine as they need.
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