Pfizer: "COVID-19 Crisis May Extend Until 2024... Potential to Become Endemic"

Pfizer COVID-19 Vaccine (Photo by Yonhap News)

[Asia Economy Reporter Seoyoung Kwon] Pfizer, a U.S. pharmaceutical company, has projected that the COVID-19 crisis could extend until 2024.

On the 17th (local time), according to local media such as CNBC, Mikael Dolsten, Pfizer's Chief Scientific Officer (CSO), stated this during a presentation to investors. However, he also speculated that some regions might experience relatively better conditions.

On this day, Dolsten CSO said, "Over the next 1 to 2 years, in some areas, COVID-19 will transition into an endemic disease, while in other regions, the global pandemic will continue." An endemic disease refers to a condition where the illness occurs consistently but does not cause large-scale infections that are unmanageable.

Dolsten CSO further explained, "It will depend on how effectively society deploys vaccines and treatments, and whether vaccines are distributed equitably in areas with low vaccination rates," adding, "The emergence of new variants can also influence how the pandemic unfolds." This prediction is interpreted as coming alongside the emergence of the Omicron variant.

Meanwhile, Anthony Fauci, director of the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), had previously projected that the pandemic situation in the U.S. would end by 2022 before the emergence of Omicron.

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