Third COVID-19 vaccine dose within a year, annual revaccination possibility: Pfizer CEO

Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla said a third dose of the coronavirus vaccine will likely be needed within 12 months of getting fully vaccinated. Annual revaccination is also a possibility, he said in a televised interview. However, researchers are yet to determine how long vaccine doses are going to remain effective against COVID-19.

"We need to see what the sequence would be, and for how often we need to do that, that remains to be seen," Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla told CNBC, adding, "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."

The Pfizer chief said that it is important to suppress the pool of people who are susceptible to the virus. "It is extremely important to suppress the pool of people that can be susceptible to the virus," said Bourla.

The Pfizer coronavirus vaccine that has been made in partnership with German company BioNTech is touted to be 91 per cent effective in preventing the virus. A study published earlier this month stated that the Pfizer vaccine is overall 91 per cent effective and 95 per cent effective against severe cases of infection up to six months after the second dose.

On Thursday, a White House official also said that the US is preparing for the possibility of a booster shot that would be needed between nine and 12 months. Chief science officer for US President Joe Biden's Covid-19 task force David Kessler said, "We are studying the durability of the antibody response," further adding, "I think for planning purposes, planning purposes only, I think we should expect that we may have to boost."

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