COVID VACCINE MAKERS SHIFT FOCUS TO BOOSTERS

COVID-19 vaccine makers are shifting gears and planning for a smaller, more competitive booster shot market after delivering as many doses as fast as they could over the last 18 months.

Executives at the biggest COVID vaccine makers including Pfizer Inc. and Moderna Inc. said they believe most people who wanted to get vaccinated against COVID have already done so—more than 5 billion people worldwide.

In the coming year, most COVID vaccinations will be booster shots, or first inoculations for children, which are still gaining regulatory approvals around the world, they said.

Pfizer, which makes its shot with Germany’s BioNTech SE , and Moderna still see a major role for themselves in the vaccine market even as overall demand declines.

Upstart US vaccine maker Novavax Inc and Germany’s CureVac NV, which is working with GlaxoSmithKline, are developing vaccines they hope to target at the booster market.

The roles of AstraZeneca Plc and Johnson & Johnson, whose shots have been less popular or effective, are expected to decline in this market.

“It becomes a very competitive game with companies battling it out with pricing and for market share, even for vaccines that are considered to be the best, like Pfizer and Moderna,” said Hartaj Singh, an analyst at Oppenheimer & Co.

It is not known yet how many booster doses will be needed. Second booster shots are currently recommended in some countries for only a subset of the population.

Redesign

It is also unclear if vaccine makers will sell a redesigned shot this fall and each fall afterward, as flu vaccine makers do to match circulating strains, and what impact that might have on waning demand.

Pfizer chief executive Albert Bourla said in an interview that adults who are still unvaccinated are unlikely to seek out shots now, more than two years into the pandemic.

It will be the “already vaccinated” who account for demand, Bourla said.