Pfizer CEO: Vaccine-Resistant Coronavirus Variant ‘Likely’ to Emerge

  • Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla told Fox it was likely a vaccine-resistant variant would emerge. 
  • Bourla said Pfizer could make a shot tailor-made for such a variant within 95 days of its discovery.
  • The CDC director said the virus could be “a few mutations” away from evolving to evade vaccines.

“Every time that a variant appears in the world, our scientists are getting their hands around it,” Bourla said. “And they are researching to see if this variant can escape the protection of our vaccine.

“We haven’t identified any yet, but we believe that it is likely that one day, one of them will emerge.”

Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla

Tailored Vaccine Withing 3 Months

“We have built a process that within 95 days from the day that we identify a variant as a variant of concern, we will be able to have a vaccine tailor-made against this variant,” Bourla said.

Concerns

  • Higher rates of virus circulation and transmission are creating “more opportunities for new variants to emerge.”
  • 93% of US states are at a “high level of community transmission
  • New daily cases have more than quadrupled in the past month.