A COVID-19 vaccine effective against multiple variants is possible before the end of 2022, the head of US pharmaceutical giant Pfizer said Wednesday.
Chairman Albert Bourla said the firm was also working on producing a vaccine that could provide good protection for a whole year, meaning people would come back annually for boosters, as with influenza shots.
"I hope, clearly by autumn... that we could have a vaccine" that worked against not only the dominant Omicron but all known variants, he said.
"It is a possibility that we have it by then. It is not a certainty," he told a media briefing organised by the International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers and Associations (IFPMA) big pharma lobby group.
The Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine is one of the most effective against COVID-19.
Though, like other jabs, it has seen waning effectiveness against the now-dominant Omicron variant of the virus, it still offers strong protection against serious disease, hospitalisation and death.
IFPMA director general Thomas Cueni said the world had to learn to live with the virus that causes Covid-19 disease, saying: "We are beyond the time when you can eradicate SARS-CoV-2."
Bourla said there was a risk of vaccine fatigue, predicting that few people who have so far declined the chance to be vaccinated would change their minds, and suggesting that fewer people would come back for fourth doses than came forward for a third, booster dose.
"What the world really needs is a vaccine that will last a year. I think this is what will become the optimal public health solution," he said.
"It's way more easy to be administered and have the population be compliant with that.
"It is very challenging, technically, to do it with this virus -- but we are working on it."
- IP waiver plan blasted -
The World Health Organization is aware of 153 COVID-19 vaccines that have been in clinical development -- tested on humans -- and 196 in pre-clinical development.
But so far, the UN health agency has only authorised eight vaccines and versions thereof: those made by Pfizer-BioNTech, AstraZeneca, Janssen, Moderna, Sinovac, Sinopharm, Bharat Biotech and Novavax.
The IFPMA briefing condemned suggestions that intellectual property rights on COVID-19 vaccines should be temporarily lifted during the pandemic, in a bid to increase production.
"I'm stunned that the proposed IP waiver is still debated while supplies are far outstripping demand," said Cueni.
With more than a billion vaccine doses being produced every month, Eli Lilly chairman David Ricks called it "a solution looking for a problem", while Bourla branded the idea "insane".
In a later WHO press conference, the UN health agency's chief scientist Soumya Swaminathan said the vaccine supply situation had dramatically improved in recent months.
The problem, she said, was more one of logistics and getting doses into arms in countries, especially in Africa, where only 13 percent have been fully jabbed.
"We are able to now supply as many doses as countries want, on demand, to them. The issue now really is on delivery," she said.
ETX Studio
Fri Apr 15 2022
A Covid-19 vaccine effective against multiple variants is possible before the end of 2022, the head of US pharmaceutical giant Pfizer said - ETX Studio
Pesawat Maritim Malaysia bantu padam kebakaran di Miri
Maritim Malaysia telah mengatur gerak pesawat Bombardier CL-415 miliknya, bagi membantu dalam operasi memadamkan kebakaran hutan tanah gambut secara bersepadu.
Polis tahan lelaki bakar mercun di tengah jalan raya
Polis menahan seorang pembantu bengkel yang disyaki membakar mercun di tengah jalan raya, ketika perarakan pengebumian berdekatan sebuah pasar raya di Banting, Selangor, semalam.
NADMA laksana pembenihan awan di Papar, Lahad Datu dan Tawau
Operasi itu dilaksanakan bagi mendapatkan sumber air mencukupi di kawasan tadahan hujan ekoran cuaca panas.
Sultan Selangor berkenan lancar Tabung Pembangunan Ehsan Selangor-Gaza
Sultan Selangor Sultan Sharafuddin Idris Shah hari ini berkenan melancarkan Tabung Pembangunan Ehsan Selangor-Gaza.
PADU: Keraguan pengguna patut menjadi satu mesej yang kerajaan kena faham - Pakar
Masalah itu tercetus akibat kurangnya komunikasi yang cermat dan akhirnya, ia membawa kepada pemahaman yang bersegmen dan kompleks.
Jumlah korban serangan di dewan konsert Rusia meningkat kepada 143
Jumaat lepas, sekumpulan lelaki bersenjata melepaskan tembakan rambang di Dewan Bandaraya Crocus, Krasnogorsk dalam Wilayah Moscow.
Kerjasama dua hala India-Malaysia bergantung kepada kepercayaan, kebolehpercayaan bersama - Menteri Luar
Memupuk kepercayaan dan kebolehpercayaan bersama sebagai asas untuk kerjasama dua hala antara India dan Malaysia adalah sangat penting, kata Menteri Luar India, Dr S. Jaishankar.
AWANI 7:45 [28/03/2024] - 75 peratus pemegang akaun keldai | Sakit mata, sakit hati | Bayar agihan pendapatan | Elak serbuan saat akhir
#AWANI745 malam ini bersama Essan Yahya;
1. Scammer! Dalam tiga bulan, lebih empat ribu ditahan
2. Hati jadi sakit, lambakan kereta terbiar depan rumah... Gempur745 siasat
3. PNB agih pendapatan RM0.67 bilion
4. Tambahan 300 kaunter PADU seluruh negara
1. Scammer! Dalam tiga bulan, lebih empat ribu ditahan
2. Hati jadi sakit, lambakan kereta terbiar depan rumah... Gempur745 siasat
3. PNB agih pendapatan RM0.67 bilion
4. Tambahan 300 kaunter PADU seluruh negara
AWANI Ringkas: Rusuhan di bazar Ramadan
AWANI Ringkas
PM Anwar beri bayangan tiada 'cuti tambahan' sempena sambutan Aidilfitri
Perdana Menteri, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim beri bayangan tiada cuti tambahan diberikan menjelang sambutan Hari Raya Aidilfitri yang dijadual pada 10 April depan.
Suruhanjaya Eropah luluskan vaksin COVID-19 versi terkini
Suruhanjaya Eropah sudah meluluskan versi terkini vaksin COVID-19 yang dibangunkan oleh BioNTech-Pfizer.
Kempen MyPELINDUNG didik masyarakat terus perangi COVID-19
Meskipun Malaysia telah mencapai kemajuan ketara, namun virus COVID-19 tetap kekal sebagai satu kebimbangan kesihatan.
Puting beliung musnahkan gudang utama Pfizer
Syarikat farmaseutikal Pfizer mengesahkan bahawa kompleks tersebut telah rosak akibat puting beliung yang berlaku dekat Rocky Mount.
Belgium akan musnahkan hampir 6 juta vaksin COVID-19 yang luput
Belgium tidak boleh menggunakan lagi lebihan vaksin asli dan 2.6 juta dos Moderna dan 3.3 juta dos Pfizer akan dimusnahkan secepat mungkin.
WEF2023: Pfizer umum penjualan tanpa untung kepada negara miskin
Ini termasuk ubat luar paten, menjadikan jumlah keseluruhan produk yang ditawarkan kepada lebih 500 jenis.
Vaksin COVID-19: AS setuju cadangan dos penggalak kepada 12 tahun ke atas
CDC dijangka menerima pakai cadangan itu, sebagai langkah sebelum suntikan boleh dimulakan.
Moderna saman Pfizer, BioNTech kerana tiru paten
Moderna mendakwa, kedua-dua syarikat itu meniru teknologi yang dihasilkannya sejak sekian lama sebelum pandemik bermula.
COVID-19: Singapura beri suntikan dos penggalak kepada kanak-kanak berusia 5 hingga 11 tahun pada suku keempat
Kementerian Kesihatan sudah menerima cadangan yang dikemukakan Jawatankuasa Pakar mengenai Vaksinasi COVID-19 (EC19V).
COVID-19: Vaksin Pfizer, Moderna lulus untuk kanak-kanak 6 bulan ke 5 tahun
Dengan kelulusan ini, sekitar 18 juta kanak-kanak dalam kumpulan umur berkenaan layak untuk menerima vaksin.
PICKids: Tiada lagi vaksin Pfizer, Sinovac untuk kanak-kanak selepas 31 Mei - ProtectHealth
Sebelum ini Kementerian Kesihatan Malaysia (KKM) memutuskan untuk melanjutkan tarikh akhir pemberian vaksin PICKids dari 15 Mei kepada 31 Mei.