Pfizer, Moderna CEOs: Vaccine Boosters Needed as Early as September

Ryan Chatelain Nationwide

Spectrum News NY

The earliest people to be vaccinated for COVID-19 may need booster shots as early as September, the CEOs of Pfizer and Moderna said.

What You Need To KnowThe earliest people to be vaccinated for COVID-19 may need booster shots as early as September, the CEOs of Pfizer and Moderna saidPfizer CEO Albert Bourla stressed that the company is still awaiting data from clinical trials, but he believes people will need an additional dose between eight and 12 months after receiving their second shotDr. Anthony Fauci said, too, Wednesday that he believes booster shots will be necessary within a year of initial vaccinationLast week, David Kessler, the White House COVID-19 response team’s chief science officer, said boosters would be provided for free to the American public

In an interview with Axios on Wednesday, Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla stressed that the company is still awaiting data from clinical trials, but he believes people will need an additional dose between eight and 12 months after receiving their second shot.

“This could become sooner than later, I believe, from September, October,” Bourla said. “But this is something again that the data need to confirm.”

Bourla added that the Food and Drug Administration and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention would have to sign off on the boosters.

The two-shot vaccines developed by Pfizer and Moderna received emergency use authorization from the Food and Drug Administration in December.

Moderna CEO Stéphane Bancel had a similar prediction to Bourla’s, telling Axios in an email that he would recommend booster shots be administered starting in September to those who received their second doses in January. Bancel noted that the first wave of Americans to be vaccinated included high-risk populations such as the elderly and health care workers.

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Via https://www.ny1.com/nyc/all-boroughs/health/2021/05/20/pfizer–moderna-ceos–covid-19-vaccine-boosters-could-be-needed-starting-in-september