Moderna Chief Executive Officer Stephane Bancel believes that the coronavirus pandemic could be over in a year as the production of vaccines rises up to meet global demand, Forbes reported Thursday citing an interview with Swiss newspaper Neue Zuercher Zeitung.
Bancel said in the interview that increasing vaccine production will help ensure that enough doses are available to get the entire global population vaccinated by mid-2022.
While responding to a question on when he thinks things could go back to normal, Bancel said: “In a year, I assume.”
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The pharmaceutical executive pointed out that even people who don’t want to get the vaccination may “immunise themselves naturally” by that time with the highly contagious delta variant spreading fast across the globe.
“The people who get vaccinated will enjoy a good winter while those who don’t will live with the risk of getting sick or even being hospitalised due to the variant,” predicted Bancel.
He said that he feels that people would need a booster shot soon and the company’s version will contain half the amount of the original formulation.
He said that Moderna is also testing a “Delta-optimised variant” of the vaccine that will serve as the foundation for booster shots in 2022.
