A leading expert from China's national vaccine development team said that it is possible that people have to receive COVID-19 vaccines annually to boost immunity, but whether it is necessary to do so requires further analysis.
Shao Yiming, China's leading physician-scientist and immunologist serving at the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, said at a press conference on Wednesday that global authorities and vaccine producers have been collecting and analyzing data over the past half year of the application of COVID-19 vaccines.
A final analysis of the data will decide whether it is necessary to receive vaccines against the novel coronavirus annually, like flu shots, he said.
Shao noted Wednesday that no vaccine can be 100 percent effective, and some recipients will get infected after vaccination. The most important thing is to prevent hospitalization, serious symptoms and deaths, against which most existing COVID-19 vaccines can be more than 80 percent effective.
Pfizer Inc. Chief Executive Albert Bourla said it is likely that people who receive Covid-19 vaccines will need booster shots within a year afterward, and then annual vaccinations, to maintain protection against the virus as it evolves.
Pfizer and its partner, BioNTech SE, said recently that the shot remains highly effective six months after its second dose, and they hope to provide more information on protection beyond six months in the coming weeks.