The CEO of the American pharmaceutical giant Pfizer announced that individuals who received the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine will "likely" need a third dose within six months to a year, followed by an annual dose. Albert Bourla, the CEO of Pfizer, stated in remarks reported by CNBC that "there is a reasonable hypothesis that a third dose will likely be necessary, between six and twelve months, and after that, there will be a vaccination once a year; however, this still needs to be validated." He added, "On the other hand, the variants of the coronavirus will play a significant role," and continued, "It is very important to reduce the number of people exposed to the virus."