The American pharmaceutical company Pfizer predicts that the coronavirus pandemic may continue until 2023 and has announced plans to develop a three-dose vaccination program for children aged 2 to 16, according to Reuters.
The company made a statement against the background of new restrictions in European countries. At the same time, a study warned that the rapidly spreading new variant of the coronavirus, Omicron, was five times more contagious to humans than its predecessor, Delta.
Pfizer executives said the company believes the coronavirus should be endemic worldwide by 2024, meaning there will be no more pandemics. “COVID-19 will become endemic by 2024.”
Before the advent of Omicron, US chief physician Anthony Fauci predicted that the pandemic would end in 2022 – or at least in his country.
Announcing plans to develop a three-dose regimen for children aged 2 to 16, Chief Research Officer Michael Dolsten told a conference that the results of three doses among people over the age of 16 show that the approach offers greater protection. .
“So we decided to modify each of the pediatric studies to include a third dose in the series and seek a license for a three-dose series, rather than a two-dose one, as originally expected,” the company said.
Pfizer developed its coronavirus vaccine together with the German company BioNTech SE. They are now developing a version of their vaccine adapted to combat the Omicron variant. A clinical trial of the updated vaccine is expected to begin in January.
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