The Johnson & Johnson CEO said Tuesday that people may need to be vaccinated against COVID-19 annually for the next few years – similar to seasonal flu shots.
“Unfortunately, as (the virus) is spreading, it can also mutate,” Alex Gorsky said in an interview on CNBC.
“Every time it mutates, it’s almost like a new click of a button, so to speak, where we can see a different variant, another mutation that could impact its ability to repel antibodies or to to have a different kind of response, not only to a therapeutic but also to a vaccine, ”he added.
Public health officials have previously warned that the coronavirus is likely to persist.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, the country’s leading infectious disease expert, said COVID-19 could become “endemic,” meaning it will be a constant part of communities.
“I doubt we are going to eradicate this,” Fauci said at a virtual health conference last week. “I think we should plan for this to be something that we have to chronically control.”
Gorsky’s comments, meanwhile, came after Johnson & Johnson last week asked the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to approve its emergency single-dose COVID-19 vaccine.
The drugmaker says his shot is 66 percent effective at preventing moderate to severe illness.
The J&J vaccine would add a vital third option – along with Pfizer and Moderna injections – as the US struggles to distribute vaccines against the virus.
However, the J&J version has proven less effective against a more aggressive variant of the virus found in South Africa, the report said.
That strain, as well as a variant identified in the UK, has been found in the US.