The head of BioNTech, which makes one of the most common COVID-19 vaccines in the world, said that new vaccines might be necessary by 2022 to combat the “next generation” of COVID-19 variants.
BioNTech’s chief executive officer Ugur Sahin told the Financial Times that the new strains of the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus, which causes COVID-19, will likely be able to evade vaccines.
“We have no reason to assume that the next generation virus will be easier to handle for the immune system than the existing generation,” said Sahin on Monday. “This year [a different vaccine] is completely unneeded. But by mid next year, it could be a different situation,” Sahin added.
Without mentioning data suggesting that “natural immunity” may offer better and longer-lasting protection, the executive said that the next vaccines will have to be “tailored” to forthcoming changes to the CCP virus.
“This virus will stay, and the virus will further adapt,” Sahin continued in saying. “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 continuous evolution, and that evolution has just started.”