The British Minister for Vaccine Implementation, Nadhim Zahawi, said on Sunday that annual vaccinations against coronavirus are extremely possible.
“We are most likely seeing a year or a booster in the fall and then every year (vaccination), the way we do flu vaccinations, where you look at what virus is spreading around the world,” Zahawi told the BBC. Reuters.
According to the press, the United Kingdom has so far administered 12 million doses of coronavirus vaccines and is about to vaccinate everyone in the most vulnerable groups by mid-February.
The emergence of new variants of coronavirus has led many health experts to call for faster distribution of coronavirus vaccine doses. It is believed that the new variants are more infectious.
Although several vaccines, such as those from Pfizer, Moderna and AstraZeneca, have been shown to be effective against the coronavirus strain in the UK, they do not appear to be as effective against the South African strain.
In the same BBC interview, Zahawi rejected suggestions that the British government would use a vaccine passport to relax travel restrictions.
“It simply came to our notice then. We agree with them, “he said. “We still don’t know what the impact of vaccines is on transmission and it would be discriminatory.”
Sarah Gilbert, Oxford University’s leading vaccine developer, said on Saturday that a version of the AstraZeneca vaccine that is effective against the new South African strain should be ready by the fall.
“It will be very similar to working with flu vaccines, so people will be familiar with the idea that we need to have new components, new strains in the flu vaccine every year,” Gilbert said.
Moderna CEO Stéphane Bancel said the coronavirus “does not go away” and warned that the world will have to live with it “forever”. Bancel said health experts will have to look for new options from now on to create effective vaccines.