Moderna chairman says booster could be yearly

Moderna Chairman Noubar Afeyan indicated on Tuesday that his company’s COVID-19 shot could require yearly boosters. 

“It may well need an annual booster, potentially varying on a year-to-year or every few years basis as the virus varies,” Afeyan said on the Fox Business Network during an interview on “Mornings with Maria.”

Afeyan added that the impact and death toll of the pandemic have been unlike anything experts have seen in the past century. Because of this, uncertainty surrounding what the virus may look like in the future is difficult to surmount.

“We just don’t know how this virus is going to travel from being a pandemic all the way to potentially an endemic virus we have to get used to living with,” he said. 

“I think if we end up there, there will be a continuous need for boosting,” he added.

Afeyan also said that the “initial vaccination will do a very good job of protecting us if we get infected.”

Last week, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) approved mixing and matching boosters, meaning people who are eligible for additional shots can decide which brand of vaccine to get as all three Food and Drug Administration (FDA) authorized vaccines are considered “extraordinarily safe” and “effective.”

CDC Director Rochelle Walensky said that her agency would “not articulate a preference” for which brand’s booster shot people should get.

Recent data from the CDC also indicated that vaccinated Americans are currently getting their booster shots at a faster pace than those who are getting their first vaccine dose.

As of last week, roughly 340,000 people were getting booster shots each day, compared to a daily average of 157,605 people who received their first vaccine shot during the same time period.