Moderna CEO Stéphane Bancel warned on Wednesday that the coronavirus “does not disappear” and the world will have to live with it “forever”.
“We will live with this virus, we believe, forever,” Bancel said.
Bancel remarked while speaking at the JPMorgan Healthcare Conference, CNBC reports. He said that health officials will always have to look for new variants of COVID-19 to produce new vaccines and that “SARS-CoV-2 does not disappear.”
Several new variants were detected, one in the UK being much more infectious. The World Health Organization (WHO) said on Monday that a new separate variant had also been detected in Japan.
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said of the new variants: “The more the virus spreads, the greater the chance of new changes in the virus. In particular, the transmissibility of some variants of the virus seems to be increasing “.
Moderna’s two-dose vaccine has been shown in vaccination studies to provide about 95% immunity to coronavirus. Moderna officials said Tuesday at the JPMorgan Healthcare Conference that the vaccine is expected to provide immunity for at least a year.
Tal Zaks, the chief physician of Moderna, said the biotechnology company would look into whether a third booster shot would extend the vaccine’s immunity.
“We believe there is an opportunity for growth, especially for those at high risk, if you need it,” Zaks said.
As CNBC notes, the WHO currently states that there are four endemic coronaviruses worldwide, but none are as contagious as SARS-CoV-2.