Pfizer said Tuesday that “the groundwork is being laid” to create a vaccine booster that can respond to coronavirus variants.
“We shouldn’t be scared, but I think we need to be prepared,” Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla said during Bloomberg’s The Year Ahead event on Tuesday. “Once we discover something that is not so effective, we will very, very quickly produce a booster dose that will be a small variation of the current one.”
Bourla said the company had discussed variants in the past and created a process to help it adapt quickly.
“We were working on a process that would allow us to do the development very quickly,” Bourla said. “We have now begun to implement this process.”
In a statement to CNN on Tuesday, Pfizer stressed that the process is to respond, “if a variant of SARS-CoV-2 shows evidence of escaping immunity from our vaccine.”
“However, the studies needed to evaluate a vaccine encoding an updated viral antigen have not yet been determined, according to regulators. We will need to generate data that allows us to trust that any updated vaccine is safe and effective. The vaccine updated that will be administered as a reinforcer would be subject to regulatory approval or authorization, ”the statement said.
Last week, Ugur Sahin, who helped invent the BioNTech vaccine manufactured and distributed by Pfizer, tested its B.1.1.7 variant vaccine seen for the first time in the UK. The team found “no biologically significant differences in neutralization activity,” they reported in a prepress report. But they said it would be “prudent” to start adjusting the vaccine, just in case.
Vaccine maker Moderna announced Monday that two doses of its vaccine are expected to be protective against emerging coronavirus strains detected so far, but with great caution, it planned to test the booster shots.