BioNTech says new COVID-19 vaccines may be needed next year

The scientist who helped develop the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine said a new version of the vaccine may be needed next year to protect against the virus.

Dr Ugur Sahin, co-founder and CEO of BioNTech, said that while the booster injections are effective against current strains, including the contagious Delta variant, there may be mutations that escape him in the future.

“This year [a different vaccine] is completely unnecessary. But by the middle of next year, the situation could be different, ”Sahin told the Financial Times.

The company’s recall uses the same formula as its original two-dose vaccine.

But Sahin said next year may call for new “tailor-made” formulas to specifically target the characteristics of the new variants.

“This virus will stay and the virus will adapt more,” he told the outlet. “We have no reason to assume that the next generation virus will be easier for the immune system to manage than the current generation. This is an ongoing evolution, and this evolution is only just beginning.

BioNTech co-founder Dr Ozlem Tureci, who is also Sahin’s wife, predicted last week that booster shots might be needed “every 12 to 18 months.”

“For all of these variants that are currently circulating, it appears that boosters alone, bringing waning immune responses to high levels, are suitable and protective,” Tureci told CNBC.

“However, we have to keep filtering because there might be variants coming up that don’t. And for that we have a second pillar, which is that we are preparing to be quick and quick in the case we have to adapt to a variant… And we do these dry tests, not alone, with the regulators, so that they are also prepared for the potential need to change.