New vaccines may be needed in 2022, says BioNTech CEO. Shares are always overwritten.

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Updated Covid-19 vaccines may be needed next year as the disease-causing coronavirus mutates to evade immunity, BioNTech CEO Uğur Şahin said in an interview with the Financial Times.

The CEO of the German company that developed a Covid vaccine with the American drug giant

Pfizer

(ticker: PFE) added that the coronavirus is here to stay and will adapt more. “This year [a different vaccine] is completely unnecessary. But by the middle of next year the situation could be different, ”he said. “This is an ongoing evolution, and this evolution has just started,” Ahin said.

The variants currently in circulation were more infectious but were not enough to undermine the effectiveness of current vaccines, he said. Booster shots for those vaccinated and efforts to inoculate the unvaccinated will be the two main thrusts of the immunization program next year, he added.

BioNTech (BNTX) co-founder Dr Özlem Türeci said last week that Covid would become manageable and stay with us for years to come, and that booster shots may be needed every 12 to 18 months.

Shares of Covid-19 vaccine makers continued to decline on Monday morning,

BioNTech

the share slipped almost 4.2%,

Modern

(MRNA) was 5.7% lower and

Novavax

(NVAX) fell 3.1% as of 11:14 a.m. on Monday.

Vaccine makers fell on Friday after US drug giant Merck said its oral antiviral pill Covid-19 reduced the risk of hospitalization or death by about 50%. The news, although positive in the fight against Covid infections, has led investors to fear that demand for vaccines will be affected in the coming months.

Novavax stock plunged 12.4% on Friday, while Moderna fell 11.4%, even after a report Thursday night suggested the Food and Drug Administration is likely to approve a more booster dose. the company’s small vaccine.

Write to Callum Keown at [email protected]