Pfizer boss says NEW vaccine-resistant variant ‘likely’ to emerge

Pfizer boss says NEW vaccine-resistant variant is ‘very likely’ to emerge soon.

Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla told Fox News recently that he believed it was “likely” a vaccine-resistant coronavirus variant would eventually emerge.

“Every time that a variant appears in the world, our scientists are getting their hands around it- and they are researching to see if this variant can escape the protection of our vaccine. We haven’t identified any yet, but we believe that it is likely that one day, one of them will emerge,” Bourla said.

Bourla added that Pfizer could produce new versions of its vaccine to combat a variant within around three months of its discovery.

“We have built a process that within 95 days from the day that we identify a variant as a variant of concern, we will be able to have a vaccine tailor-made against this variant,” Bourla added.

This is not the first time this concern of vaccine evasion has been brought up, but experts’ opinions are split.

“These vaccines operate really well in protecting us from severe disease and death, but the big concern is that the next variant that might emerge – just a few mutations, potentially, away – could potentially evade our vaccines,” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Rochelle Walensky said in a July 27 press briefing.

The UK government’s advisory panel, the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies, said higher rates of virus circulation and transmission were creating “more opportunities for new variants to emerge.”

The Delta variant, first identified in India, has now become the dominant strain of coronavirus around the world.

A Public Health England study in June suggested the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine is 96 percent effective against hospitalisation after the administration of two doses.

In the UK, people under the age of 40 receive either the Pfizer/BioNTech or Moderna vaccines- those under the age of 18 receive the Pfizer jab only.

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