BioNTech CEO Uğur Şahin told the Financial Times updated vaccines may be needed in 2022.
Patrick T. Fallon/AFP via Getty Images
Updated Covid-19 vaccines may be needed next year as the coronavirus that causes the disease mutates to evade immunity, BioNTech CEO Uğur Şahin said in an interview with the Financial Times.
The chief executive of the German company that developed a Covid vaccine with U.S. drug giant
Pfizer
(ticker: PFE) added that the coronavirus was here to stay and would further adapt. “This year [a different vaccine] is completely unneeded. But by mid next year, it could be a different situation,” he said. “This is a continuous evolution, and that evolution has just started,” Şahin said.
The variants currently in circulation were more infectious but weren’t enough to undermine the efficacy of current vaccines, he said. Boosters shots for those vaccinated and efforts to inoculate the unvaccinated will make up the two main focuses of the vaccine program next year, he added.
BioNTech’s (BNTX) co-founder Dr. Özlem Türeci said last week Covid will become manageable and stay with us for years to come, and that booster shots may be needed every 12-18 months.
Shares in Covid-19 vaccine makers continued their slide lower early on Monday,
BioNTech
stock slipped close to 3%, Moderna (MRNA) was 3.6% lower and
Novavax
(NVAX) fell 3% in premarket trading.
Vaccine manufacturers tumbled Friday after U.S. drug giant Merck said its oral Covid-19 antiviral pill cuts the risk of hospitalization or death by approximately 50%. The news, though positive in the fight against Covid infections, led investors to fear that vaccine demand may be affected in the coming months.
Novavax stock plunged 12.4% Friday, while Moderna fell 11.4%, even after a report late Thursday suggested the Food and Drug Administration is likely to approve a smaller booster dose of the company’s vaccine.
Write to Callum Keown at [email protected]
