Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla told the Hebrew publication N12 News in an exclusive interview that the best way to combat COVID-19 is a vaccine that can be administered every year, not with boosters received every few months, according to Reuters.
“This will not be a good scenario,” he said when asked about people getting booster shots every four to five months. “What I’m hoping [is] that we will have a vaccine that you will have to do once a year.”
“Once a year — it is easier to convince people to do it. It is easier for people to remember,” he continued. “So from a public health perspective, it is an ideal situation.”
Bourla predicted the world will return to near-normal conditions within a few months. “The virus will not be eradicated. The virus will be with us for years to come,” he said, adding that “we should be able to come to normal lives… in a few months.” However, he stressed there will continue to be “anomalies, such as Omicron… that we will be able to control.”
In the interview, Bourla also said Pfizer was working on a vaccine that could combat omicron.
“I do not know if we will have to use it, but we are working on the vaccine. We will know if it is the best solution only after we see the data,” he said. “We know we will be able to mass-produce the vaccine, if necessary, because we are already building the infrastructure for production.”
