COVID pandemic will be over within a year - Moderna CEO

• Author: JERUSALEM POST STAFF
• Published date: 24 September 2021
• Publication title: Jerusalem Post, The: Web Edition Articles (Israel)

Bancel estimated that by the middle of next year there should be enough vaccine doses so that "everyone on earth can get vaccinated" and boosters should also be possible as required, allowing a return to the routine by this time next year.

"Those who do not get vaccinated will immunize themselves naturally because the Delta variant is so contagious," Bancel told NZZ. "In this way, we will end up in a situation similar to that of the flu. You can either get vaccinated and have a good winter, or you don't do it and risk getting sick and possibly even ending up in hospital. Let's not forget that tens of thousands die from the flu every year in Europe and the US."

cnxps.cmd.push(function () { cnxps({ playerId: '36af7c51-0caf-4741-9824-2c941fc6c17b' }).render('4c4d856e0e6f4e3d808bbc1715e132f6'); });

>

Moderna also plans to begin clinical trials on a combination coronavirus-flu vaccine by the end of this year, with expectations that the vaccine will be available in 2023, Bancel said. The company is also working to include viruses that cause the common cold with the hopes that in the future only one vaccine against respiratory viruses will be needed.

The Moderna CEO additionally pointed out that while the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines had similar effectiveness in phase III studies, the effectiveness of the two vaccines decreased at different rates. Bancel explained that Moderna believes that this is because the dose of its vaccine is three times...