Fourth COVID shot ‘necessary’ due to waning immunity

Most people will need to get a fourth COVID-19 vaccine dose to be protected from the virus, the head of Pfizer said on Sunday.

“It is necessary for most” people, CEO Albert Bourla said during an interview on CBS’s “Face The Nation” when asked if Americans can expect to get annual COVID booster shots every fall.

The regimen of two initial doses plus a booster is not able to protect against variants and wanes too quickly in strength, Bourla conceded — making additional shots inevitable.

“Right now, the protection that you’re getting from the third [shot], it is good enough — actually quite good for hospitalizations and deaths — it’s not that good against infections, but doesn’t last very long,” he said.

Pfizer and other companies are working on shots that will protect against any future variants.

“Omicron was the first [variant] that was able to evade, in a skillful way the immune protection that we’re given, but also in all that the duration of the protection doesn’t last very long,” Bourla told host Margaret Brennan.

“What we are trying to do and we are working very diligently right now it is to make not only a vaccine that will protect against all variants, including Omicron, but also something that can protect for at least a year.”