(Bloomberg) — Moderna Inc. Chief Executive Officer Stephane Bancel said another round of vaccine boosters against Covid-19 will probably be needed this fall, even if the super-infectious omicron variant helps move the planet more quickly into a stage of living with the virus.
“Assuming omicron is an acceleration to the endemic phase, I still believe we’re going to need boosters in the fall of ‘22 and forward,” Bancel said in a presentation late Thursday at a health-care conference hosted by Goldman Sachs Group Inc. It’s impossible to predict the potential impact of new mutations on the severity of the disease, the CEO said, adding that it’s too early to tell whether everyone will need a booster in future years.
He also believes boosters given this month or in the last quarter of 2021 will probably hold until spring begins in the Northern Hemisphere.
Countries around the world have rushed forward with booster drives in an attempt to slow omicron’s spread, even as it remains unclear how long the boosters will protect against infection. Israel has started offering a fourth dose of the vaccine to people aged 60 and over, as it grapples with record numbers of new cases.
Early data out of the U.K. indicated last month that protection from a booster against infection with omicron wanes more rapidly than had been seen against the delta variant. However, if a pattern previously seen with delta holds, the vaccines will continue to keep people from becoming severely ill.
Moderna is continuing to work on an omicron-specific shot and expects to start human trials very soon, Bancel said. The company will also continue to look at shots tailored for a combination of different strains, he said.
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