COVID pandemic will be over within a year – Moderna CEO



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Moderna CEO Stéphane Bancel believes the coronavirus pandemic will be over within a year, as more vaccines become available and vaccines are approved for children, he told Swiss The new Zurich Times (NZZ) newspaper.

Bancel estimated that by the middle of next year there should be enough doses of the vaccine for “everyone on earth to get vaccinated” and boosters should also be possible if necessary, allowing for a return. back to routine around this time next year.

“Those who don’t get the vaccine will get naturally immunized because the Delta variant is so contagious,” Bancel told NZZ. “That way we’re going to end up in a flu-like situation. You can either get the vaccine and have a good winter, or you don’t and risk getting sick and maybe even ending up in the hospital. remember that tens of thousands of people die from the flu every year in Europe and the United States. “

Moderna also plans to begin clinical trials of a combined coronavirus and flu vaccine by the end of this year, with expectations that the vaccine will be available in 2023, Bancel said. The company is also working to include viruses that cause the common cold in the hope that in the future only one vaccine against respiratory viruses will be needed.

The CEO of Moderna further pointed out that while the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines had similar efficacy in phase III studies, the efficacy of the two vaccines was declining at different rates. Bancel explained that Moderna believes this is because the dose of its vaccine is three times that of the Pfizer vaccine.

    Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett receives his third COVID-19 vaccine on August 20, 2021 (KOBI GIDEON / GPO) Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett receives his third COVID-19 vaccine on August 20, 2021 (KOBI GIDEON / GPO)

He added that while the vaccine booster is still the same as the other two doses, the company is working on a vaccine optimized for the Delta variant for boosters in 2022 and a vaccine designed for the Delta variant and the next variant expected by scientists.

Bancel told NZZ that at-risk patients who were vaccinated last winter “definitely” need a booster.

In response to a question about the safety of the vaccine, Bancel explained that half of the molecules injected break down after four hours of vaccination, the rest degrading after 48 hours. Independent, verified studies determined years ago that Moderna’s mRNA does not penetrate the nucleus of DNA and does not cause long-term damage. “We have also made the vaccine safer and safer in other ways over the past few years,” he said.



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