Recipients of the Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine are most likely to need a third dose within a year, according to Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla.
He said that recipients of the vaccine may also need to be injected every year to curb the spread of the virus, reported Harian Metro.
“A likely scenario is that there will be likely a need for a third dose, somewhere between six and 12 months, and then from there, there will be an annual revaccination, but all of that needs to be confirmed,” he said, according to NST.
“It is extremely important to suppress the pool of people that can be susceptible to the virus.”
As of now, researchers are still unsure of how long the Covid-19 vaccine has given protection to humans against Covid-19 infection.
In a study released by Pfizer early this month, results showed that Pfizer vaccine injections were more than 91% effective in protecting recipients from being infected. However, researchers say more data is needed to determine whether protection lasts after six months.
The head of US President Joe Biden’s Covid-19 response team, David Kessler, told the House Coronavirus Crisis Subcommittee that Americans should expect to receive booster shots to defend against variants of Covid-19.
“We don’t know everything at this moment. We are studying the durability of the antibody response,” he said.
“It seems strong but there is some waning of that and no doubt the variants challenge.”
“I think for planning purposes, [and] planning purposes only, I think we should expect that we may have to boost.”
In February, Pfizer announced it would test the third dose of its vaccine in an effort to curb Covid-19 infection.
Also read: Health Minister: Only 1.16% Of M’sian Population Have Completed 2 Covid-19 Vaccine Doses
