Pfizer's CEO, Albert Bourla, believes that life will return to normal within the next year, despite the likelihood of new variants of "COVID-19" continuing to emerge worldwide. Bourla stated to ABC: "I think that in a year, we will be able to return to normal life... I don’t think that means variants will stop appearing, nor do I think it means we should be able to live our lives without vaccinations," according to a report by "Al Arabiya.net."
Bourla's comments reflect remarks made last week by Moderna's CEO, Stéphane Bancel, who predicted that the pandemic would end "within a year." Bancel told the Swiss newspaper Neue Zürcher Zeitung: "If you look at the expansion of production capacities across the industry over the past six months, we should have enough doses by mid-next year to vaccinate everyone on the planet."
Bancel added that unvaccinated individuals will "naturally immunize themselves" because the Delta variant is highly transmissible. He continued that individuals will have no alternatives: either get vaccinated and have a good winter or not and risk their lives.
Bourla stated that he believes COVID-19 will likely require annual vaccinations to combat the variants emerging globally. He sees the most probable scenario—especially as the virus spreads worldwide—as the continued emergence of new variants, along with vaccines that will remain effective for at least a year.
The Pfizer CEO stated: "I think the most likely scenario is annual vaccinations... but we really don’t know. We need to wait and see the data." For its part, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration last week authorized booster doses of Pfizer for individuals aged 65 and older, as well as others at high risk of severe COVID-19 illness, including those more susceptible due to their health conditions.
