Covid: a multivariant Pfizer vaccine in the fall?

Europe 1 with AFP 11:42 a.m., April 14, 2022, modified at 11:42 a.m., April 14, 2022

A vaccine against Covid-19 effective against multiple variants by the fall "is a possibility but not a certainty", said Wednesday the boss of the American pharmaceutical giant Pfizer, Albert Bourla.

"I hope that by the fall - but it is not a certainty - we will be able to have an" effective "vaccine against everything that is known at the moment", underlined Albert Bourla, during a point press conference organized by the International Federation of the Pharmaceutical Industry (Ifpma).

Pfizer is currently conducting studies to find out what might be the best formula.

"Once we have the data that allows us to decide which (vaccine) is the best," said the leader.

Pfizer and Moderna vaccines less effective against Omicron?

Pfizer and Germany's BioNTech have developed one of the first and most effective Covid-19 vaccines first injected into the UK at the end of 2020, less than a year after the disease was detected in China .

This messenger RNA vaccine - like that of Moderna - has seen its effectiveness reduced against the Omicron variant of the virus and its sub-variants which give Covid-19, even if it still protects very effectively against serious symptoms, hospitalizations and the death.

Pfizer is currently testing different vaccines and different doses.

“Once we know what is the best way forward we will apply for registration” in the United States, Europe and elsewhere in the world, he said.

However, the boss of Pfizer sees an increased role in the coming months for treatments against Covid, such as the paxlovid produced by his group.

This treatment - like Merck's which raises more concerns about side effects - should be given within the first few days of the onset of symptoms.

Albert Bourla bases his prediction for the treatments in particular on the fact that the disease becomes endemic and "will remain with us for a long time", but also on a certain vaccine fatigue because the existing serums - and the infection - do not protect for the moment. only for a relatively short period.

Soon a vaccine that lasts a year like the flu?

"However, vaccines have a significant role to play," insisted the leader Bourla.

"For me and for Pfizer, what the world really needs now is a vaccine that can last for a year. That would be the optimal solution in terms of public health," he added.

“Vaccines that you can take once a year are easier to administer and it is easier to convince the population to take them and we are working on it,” he insisted.

"I'm not saying it's easy, it's technically very complicated, really very complicated to do it with this virus, but we are working on it," said Albert Bourla.