Alex Gorsky, chairman and CEO of Johnson & Johnson, celebrates the 75th anniversary of his company’s listing on the New York Stock Exchange trading floor, September 17, 2019.
Brendan McDermid | Reuters
People may need to get vaccinated against Covid-19 annually for the next few years, just like seasonal flu injections, Alex Gorsky, CEO of Johnson & Johnson, told CNBC on Tuesday.
“Unfortunately, like [the virus] spreads it can also mutate, “he told CNBC’s Meg Tirrell at a Healthy Returns Spotlight event on his ability to ward off antibodies or have a different kind of response, not just to a therapeutic, but to a vaccine. “
Public health officials and infectious disease experts have said Covid-19 is likely to become an endemic disease, meaning it will be present in communities at all times, although likely at lower levels than it is now. is. Health officials will have to continuously watch for new variants of the virus so scientists can produce vaccines to combat them, medical experts say.
Gorsky’s comment came after J&J said it had applied for an emergency use permit from the Food and Drug Administration for its coronavirus vaccine. Unlike the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, which require two doses given about three to four weeks apart, J & J’s only requires one dose, easing logistics for healthcare providers.
US officials and Wall Street analysts eagerly await the approval of J & J’s vaccine, which could happen as early as this month. President Joe Biden is trying to ramp up the pace of vaccinations in the US and experts say his government needs a range of drugs and vaccines to defeat the virus, which has killed more than 450,000 Americans in the past year, according to data collected by Johns Hopkins University.
The Department of Health and Human Services announced in August that it had reached a deal with Janssen, J & J’s pharmaceutical subsidiary, worth approximately $ 1 billion for 100 million doses of its vaccine. The deal gives the federal government the ability to order an additional 200 million doses, the announcement said.
Gorsky told CNBC the company’s first priority is to work with the FDA on U.S. authorization. He said J&J is working “at full speed” on vaccine production, adding that the company is “very confident” it will meet its target of delivering 100 million doses of its coronavirus vaccine to the US by the end of June.
“We will deliver on our commitments while doing everything we can to safely and effectively accelerate production,” he said, adding that people are “very anticipating” being able to get a single shot against the virus.
J&J is also working on a two-dose coronavirus vaccine, he said. The company expects two vaccine data from clinical trials in the second half of 2021, he said.