3rd dose likely needed within 1 yr: Pfizer CEO

WASHINGTON/BERLIN: The head of Pfizer said people will “likely” need a third dose of his company’s Covid-19 shot within six to 12 months of vaccination, while elsewhere defending the relatively higher cost of the jab.

CEO Albert Bourla also said annual vaccinations against the coronavirus may well be required. “We need to see what would be the sequence, and for how often we need to do that, that remains to be seen,” Bourla told CNBC in an interview recorded on April 1 and aired on Thursday.

“A likely scenario is that there will be likely a need for a third dose, somewhere between six and 12 months and then from there, there will be an annual revaccination, but all of that needs to be confirmed,” he said.

Merkel gets AZ vaccine

Chancellor Angela Merkel on Friday received the first dose of AstraZeneca’s Covid-19 vaccine, more than two weeks after German

authorities recommended use of the jab only for people aged 60 and over.

EMA to rule on J&J shot’s safety on Tuesday

Europe’s medicines regulator, EMA, said it expected to rule on the safety of Johnson & Johnson’s coronavirus vaccine on Tuesday after vaccinations were put on hold in the US and Europe over blood clot fears.

US builds $1.7bn network to track Covid-19 variants

The United States is setting up a $1.7 billion national network to identify and track worrisome coronavirus mutations whose spread could trigger another pandemic wave, the Joe Biden administration announced on Friday.