The head of Germany’s BioNTech SE, which developed the first Covid-19 vaccine along with Pfizer Inc., said a new formula will probably be needed by mid-2022 to protect against future virus mutations.
The head of
BioNTech SE, the German company that developed the first
Covid-19
vaccine, said a new formula is likely to be needed by mid-2022 to protect against future mutations of the virus.
Ugur Sahin, co-founder and chief executive officer of
BioNtech, told the Financial Times that while current variants of
Covid-19, such as the contagious delta strain, were not different enough to undermine current vaccinations, new strains will emerge that can evade booster shots and the body’s immune defenses.
“This year [a different
vaccine] is completely unneeded, but by mid-next year, it could be a different situation,” he said. “This is a continuous evolution, and that evolution has just started.”
BioNTech partnered with U.S. pharmaceuticals giant
Pfizer Inc. to develop its
Covid-19
vaccine. Last month, the companies submitted initial data to U.S. regulators about the use of the
vaccine in children aged 5 to 11, one step closer to bringing shots to school-age kids.