Stéphane Bancel, CEO of Moderna, estimated that a fourth dose of vaccine could be necessary from the fall of 2022.
The president of Moderna explained that with the loss of effectiveness of the vaccines after a certain duration, a fourth dose would be necessary.
In addition, with the Omicron variant more contagious than ever, the majority of countries are showing ever higher rates of contamination. The vaccination campaign for the third dose, launched a few months ago, is also breaking records.
According to CNBC, during a Goldman Sachs conference, Stéphane Bancel reaffirmed the need for this third dose. For him, this would be sufficient to protect the population until the end of winter. Nevertheless, he considers it necessary that a fourth dose become mandatory in the fall of 2022 because the effectiveness of the booster will decline over the months, as was the case with the first two injections.
According to a study by the British health agency, the third dose is 75% effective against the virus, two weeks after the injection. This efficiency would drop to 70% after four weeks, and drop to only 50-40% after ten weeks.
Stéphane Bancel’s statements are based on scientific forecasts affirming that in the future, “we will have to live with” the Covid-19.
He also raised the question of collective immunity, with the lightning spread of the Omicron variant, which greatly surprised the scientific and medical community. This surprising mutation suggests to the CEO of Moderna that other mutations of the virus are to be expected and therefore calls for “caution”
