Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla Says a Fourth Booster Shot is “Necessary”

Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla said on Sunday that it will be necessary to receive an additional fourth booster shot against Covid-19.

During an interview on CBS he said that “It is necessary, a fourth booster right now…The protection that you are getting from the third, 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 added. “But we are just submitting those data to the FDA and then we will see what the experts also will say outside Pfizer.”

Pfizer CEO @AlbertBourla tells @margbrennan his company is working “very diligently” to make a covid vaccine that will protect against variants & will protect “for at least a year.” pic.twitter.com/yf2baRwy4K

— Face The Nation (@FaceTheNation) March 13, 2022

During his interview on Sunday, Bourla reiterated his company’s goal of creating a vaccine that is effective against all variants of COVID-19, for longer periods of time.

“We are working very diligently right now … 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,” he said. “And if we be able to achieve that, then I think it is very easy to follow and remember so that we can go back to really the way used to live.”

Booster shot every 4 or 5 months are “not a good scenario”

Back in January, Bourla had said that people getting COVID-19 booster shots every four to five months is “not a good scenario” and argued that an annual vaccine would be a better approach to fighting the virus.

“This will not be a good scenario,” he said when asked about people getting booster shots every four to five months, per the wire service. “What I’m hoping (is) that we will have a vaccine that you will have to do once a year.

“Once a year – it is easier to convince people to do it. It is easier for people to remember,” he continued. “So from a public health perspective, it is an ideal situation.”

In December, Bourla, a Thessaloniki native who left Greece at the age of 34 to pursue a career in the pharmaceuticals industry, was named CEO of the year by CNN Business.

Bourla to submit data on the need for fourth dose to FDA

According to NBC News, the pharmaceutical giant will soon present data to the Food and Drug Administration regarding the fourth shot.

“I think we’re going to submit to FDA a significant progress of data about the need for a fourth dose, and they need to make their own conclusions, of course, and then CDC also,” Bourla told CNBC on Friday.

“It’s clear that there is a need in an environment of omicron to boost the immune response.”