White House COVID-19 adviser Anthony Fauci suggested Monday that it’s likely that more COVID-19 vaccines will be needed.
In an interview with CNBC, Fauci was asked how many more COVID-19 vaccine doses, or boosters, will be needed.
“The answer is: we don’t know. I mean, that’s it … It is likely that we’re not done with this when it comes to vaccines,” Fauci, who has headed the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases since 1984, said in response.
A day before that, Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla suggested that a fourth COVID-19 booster dose is likely needed.
“The protection that you are getting from the third [vaccine] is… not that good against infections,” he admitted to CBS News, “but doesn’t last very long but we are just submitting those data to the FDA and then we will see what the experts also will say outside Pfizer.” As a result, he said that “it is necessary–a fourth boost–right now.”
Last week, Bourla said that his firm was going to file for emergency use authorization for a second booster. Earlier this year, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued an authorization for a third dose of Pfizer’s mRNA vaccine.
Stephane Bancel, the CEO of Moderna, the maker of the other FDA-authorized mRNA vaccine also suggested in February that a fourth vaccine is coming.
“We believe there’s a high probability that we’re moving into an endemic setting,” Bancel said in an interview with CNBC. “We should still be cautious because as we’ve seen with Delta, which came after Alpha and was more virulent, [it] is always possible to get the more virulent variant of course.”
The comments from Fauci come as several Republican lawmakers have stepped up their criticism of the public health official in recent days.
On Monday, Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), who has frequently sparred with Fauci in Senate hearings over the origins of the virus, proposed an amendment that would eliminate Fauci’s position.
“No one person should have unilateral authority to make decisions for millions of Americans,” Paul, a doctor, said in announcing the amendment. The move will, he added, “ensure that ineffective, unscientific lockdowns and mandates are never foisted on the American people ever again.”
This is an excerpt from The Epoch Times.
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