A new vaccine “tailored” to target next-generation Covid-19 coronavirus will likely be needed by the middle of 2022, according to the head of BioNTech, the biotechnology company that developed the Pfizer shot.
The German firm’s CEO, Uğur Şahin, told the Financial Times that Covid-19 variants such as the Delta strain were more contagious but could be tackled by booster shots of current vaccines.
However, he added that mutations would emerge that could slip past the body’s vaccine-acquired immune defenses.
“This year, [a different vaccine] is completely unneeded. But by mid next year, it could be a different situation,” Sahin said, adding that “tailored” versions of current vaccines would be needed to specifically target the new strains that emerge.
“This virus will stay, and the virus will further adapt,” he said.
"We have no reason to assume that the next-generation virus will be easier to handle for the immune system than the existing generation. This is a con...
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