Not everyone needs to get an annual Covid booster, according to the head of pharma giant Moderna who also likened the virus to seasonal flu.
Stéphane Bancel said his company’s shots should mainly be targeted at over-50s and people with underlying health conditions.
His comments seem to be at odds with the Centers for Disease Prevention and Control (CDC) which is urging everyone over the age of five to get boosted.
Covid is now predominantly only killing the most vulnerable because the US has built up strong immunity through high infection rates and repeated vaccine rollouts.
There are currently around 300 deaths from the virus across the country every day, compared to more than 1,000 this time last year.
Mr Bancel told a finance conference on Monday: ‘I think it’s going to be like the flu. If you’re a 25-year-old, do you need an annual booster every year if you’re healthy?
‘You might want to… but I think it’s going to be similar to flu where it’s going to be people at high-risk, people above 50 years of age, people with comorbidities, people with cancer and other conditions, people with transplants.’
Moderna’s CEO Stéphane Bancel said he has been getting a flu shot every year for 20 years
The updated booster jabs have not taken off, with only 14.8million Americans having now received the bivalent shot, out of 215million eligible
Covid is now predominantly only killing the most vulnerable because the US has built up strong immunity through high infection rates and repeated vaccine rollouts. There are currently around 300 deaths from the virus across the country every day, compared to more than 1,000 this time last year
Daily Covid cases have also been steadily falling for months after a small peak over the summer, with around 35,000 per day
Mr Bancel’s comments come amid a sluggish vaccine booster rollout that has seen just one in 20 eligible Americans taking up their Omicron-specific shot.
Despite there being little appetite for the new vaccines, the CDC last week approved Moderna and Pfizer’s shot for children as young as five.
Pfizer recently joined forces with Marvel for a PR campaign that appeared to target children.
But Mr Bancel said it was ‘very important to think about’ whether or not to get Covid boosters.
He said there are around ‘1.5billion people’ globally who would fall into the vulnerable category.
But he emphasized that younger people ‘are going to have to decide for themselves what they want to do’.
Roughly 14.8million Americans have now received the updated bivalent booster, out of 215million eligible people.
Mr Bancel defended the sluggish Covid booster uptake, pointing out that it is stronger than seasonal flu uptake.
He noted that it is the first time people are getting the booster in more of an endemic than pandemic setting, meaning people are less anxious to get a new vaccine.
‘You might do it to protect other people or because you don’t want to get sick and miss work, or miss vacation.’
But he has been getting the annual flu shot since the age of 30, he said.
‘Is it because I was worried of being hospitalized? Of course not. I just didn’t want to be sick, I wanted to be able to work.’
Controversy was sparked over the Covid vaccine drive when the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) extended eligibility to children who are six months old earlier this year.
Many experts cautioned against the move at the time, saying children face a very low risk from the virus and warned it could interfere with other inoculations they need such as against polio or measles.
There is also now a prevailing sense that the Covid pandemic has come to an end, after President Joe Biden declared it was over on television last month.
He has since attempted to walk back from his words, but many are still under the impression that Covid no longer poses a threat.
Vaccine makers made more than $34billion in profits last year from the Covid jabs alone — equivalent to $1,000 a second, according to estimates.
Pfizer and Moderna’s jabs have formed the cornerstone of America’s vaccine roll out, with more than 800million doses ordered at a cost of more than $10billion.
And to cope with the with falling demand, a new report from Airfinity said Moderna and Pfizer are increasing their prices.
The report said: ‘Moderna is estimated to be selling vials for between $32 – $50 with the United States potentially paying even more. Moderna indicated that the potential prices in the US market could range from $64 to $100 per dose.’
‘Most vaccine-resistant COVID strain ever’ – dubbed ‘XBB’ – is detected in the US with three confirmed cases: Mutant strain has causes case to double in a fortnight in Singapore
A new Covid variant that is feared to be the ‘most vaccine-resistant yet’ has sent case numbers soaring in Singapore — and it is already in the US.
The mutant strain — dubbed XBB — is another spin-off of the Omicron variant and has been blamed for Singapore’s infection numbers doubling in the past fortnight.
It has accumulated mutations in its receptor binding domain, a key part of the spike protein where virus-fighting antibodies dock and block infections.
Changes to this spot make the virus less recognizable to the immune systems of people who are vaccinated or have been infected with Covid previously.
Sounding the alarm over the new variant, Johns Hopkins University’s Dr Amesh Adalja said: ‘It is likely the most immune-evasive [to date].’
But there is no evidence that it is more likely to cause severe disease or death compared to its parent or sister strains – which have all proven to be mild for most.
Just two people are dying in Singapore per day from Covid, figures show.
While in the past there have been just one or two dominant global variants, the virus now appears to have splintered into a swarm of closely-related sub-variants.
They all derive from the Omicron strain which sent worldwide case numbers to record highs and they all contain similar mutations.
Just last months, scientists were worried about BA.275, which took off in South Asia. In the US, the BA.4.6 and BF.7 sub-strains have been slowly growing.
And in recent weeks, BQ1.1 started to take off in Europe, and looks like the frontrunner to become the continent’s dominant strain this fall.
Around 8,000 people are being infected with Covid per day in Singapore and XBB has been blamed for the sharp rise
But just two people are dying from the virus, suggesting it’s just as mild as the newer Omicron spin-offs that have become so prevalent
The above graph shows the proportion of cases in Singapore by variants. It reveals that XBB (red) has been surging in the country
This graph from Singapore’s health authorities show how cases in the country have continued to rise in recent weeks. Data shows they doubled in a fortnight
This graph shows Covid cases in Singapore as a seven-day average (yellow line) and hospitalizations (blue line). Scientists say admissions are rising ‘proportionally’ and there is no sign that the variant is more likely to cause sever disease than previous ones
So far, at least three infections of XBB have been spotted in the US and 16 other nations including Australia, India and the UK.
Singaporean scientists estimate it is 30 per cent milder than the previously dominant BA.5 Omicron strain.
‘XBB’ is formed of two variants scientifically named BJ.1 and BA.2.75 which have merged.
It was first detected in India back in August, authorities said, but did not spark a wave until now.
Covid variants can merge — in a process scientifically known as recombination — if they infect the same cell in the same person at the same time, and then swap genes.
There have been several recombinant variants already — such as ‘Delta-plus’ last year — but none have led to a major surge in infections.
Instead, most quickly die out because the merger has left them less infectious than their rivals.
But XBB appears to be the most successful yet, and is behind 54 per cent of infections in Singapore, up from 22 per cent a week ago.
One possible cause for concern is that Singapore’s reinfection rate has risen dramatically since the arrival of XBB – from 12 to 17.5 per cent of all cases.
It is not clear yet if this is simply due to waning vaccine protection.
But officials already expect the wave to peak in mid-November, making it a short and steep – but crucially mild – wave.
It comes as America struggles to turbo-charge its winter vaccination drive despite warnings of another Covid wave.
The US is currently rolling out a bivalent vaccine to all over-5s, which is designed to protect against Covid variants BA.5 and BA.5.
It is unclear whether it will also protect against XBB, although scientists say it will still help to refresh people’s immunity.
Just six per cent of people who are eligible have come forward so far, a month after the program started.
Last week eligibility was expanded from over-12s to over-5s, with American health chiefs saying they should also get jabs.
But the move goes against that in other nations which are quietly raising the age limit for their Covid jabs amid concerns over side-effects like heart inflammation and limited evidence that it will benefit children