Pfizer CEO: "Variants Resistant to COVID-19 Vaccine Could Emerge"

Experts: "Variant Emergence Is Inevitable... Opinions Differ on Vaccine Resistance Potential"

[Image source=Reuters Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Suhwan] The possibility of a new variant resistant to currently used COVID-19 vaccines has been raised.

Albert Bourla, CEO of Pfizer, said on the 24th (local time) on Fox News that a COVID-19 vaccine-resistant variant will emerge, adding, "Pfizer has a system in place to develop a variant-specific vaccine within 95 days after a new variant is discovered."

CEO Bourla stated, "Our researchers are studying the possibility of new variant viruses that can evade the immune efficacy of currently developed vaccines," and added, "Although such variants have not yet been found, they will eventually emerge."

Regarding Pfizer's vaccine recently receiving final approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), CEO Bourla emphasized, "We do not intend to use this for marketing purposes," and said, "We will focus on increasing supply to meet international demand and concentrate on responding to the emergence of new variants."

Experts have long warned about the possibility of vaccine-resistant pathogens emerging.

Earlier, Bloomberg News cited a report from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), stating, "Analysis of the genetic sequences of infected healthcare and essential workers showed that the vaccine's effectiveness was 66%."

This is a 25 percentage point drop from the 91% effectiveness before the Delta variant became prevalent.

The problem is that it is impossible to accurately predict the likelihood of vaccine-resistant variants emerging.

Since mutations occur randomly, the risk of mutation increases as the number of genetic material replications increases.

Therefore, it is impossible to prevent mutations themselves, and it is also difficult to accurately measure the risk of mutation occurrence.

Moreover, predicting whether a variant virus will develop vaccine resistance, or whether its transmissibility or fatality rate will increase, is even more difficult than predicting the risk of mutation occurrence.

Experts have differing opinions on whether future variant viruses will develop vaccine resistance.

Rochelle Walensky, CDC Director, said at a briefing last month, "Vaccines effectively protect us from severe illness and death," but added, "The biggest concern is that the next variant that emerges might evade vaccines with just a few mutations."

However, Dr. Angela Rasmussen from the University of Saskatchewan in Canada argued in The Telegraph that "for vaccine resistance to occur, too many mutations in the virus's spike protein are required, and in that case, the virus would no longer survive," suggesting that the emergence of vaccine-resistant variants is unlikely.

Experts agree that while the direction of COVID-19 virus mutations cannot be predicted, efforts should focus on minimizing virus transmission through vaccination and quarantine measures to reduce the occurrence of vaccine-resistant variants.

Anthony Fauci, Director of the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), warned in an interview with NPR that if many remain unvaccinated, "the COVID-19 virus will continue to circulate and mutate," and "more variants will emerge, potentially leading us back to a situation similar to or worse than the Delta variant."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.