COVID-19 may be endemic by 2024, predicts Pfizer amid Omicron fears

Madrid: Pfizer Inc. said on Friday that the COVID-19 pandemic could extend into next year and announced plans to develop a three-dose vaccine for children between the ages of 2 and 16, a move may delay its authorization.

The US pharmaceutical company made its remarks as European countries gear up for further travel and social restrictions and a study warned that the fast-spreading Omicron coronavirus was more likely to re-infect people than its predecessor Delta. was five times more likely.

Pfizer officials said the company believes that by 2024, the disease should be endemic around the world, meaning it will no longer be a pandemic. The company projected that “COVID will potentially transition to an endemic state by 2024.”

Prior to the Omicron edition, top US disease doctor Anthony Fauci predicted that the pandemic would end in the United States in 2022.

In announcing plans to develop a three-dose regimen for ages 2 to 16, Chief Scientific Officer Mikel Dolston explained in a conference call that results from three doses in people over the age of 16 showed that The approach has provided greater security.

“Therefore, we have decided to revise each pediatric study to include a third dose in the series and to obtain a license for a three-dose series instead of the two-dose series as originally anticipated,” the company said. .

Pfizer developed its own COVID-19 vaccine with Germany’s BioNTech SE. The companies are developing a version of their vaccine designed to counter the Omicron variant, but have not decided whether this will be needed. Pfizer officials said they expect to begin clinical trials for the updated vaccine in January.

The risk of reinfection with the Omicron version is 5.4 times higher and shows no signs of being milder than with the delta version, a study from Imperial College London found, as cases rise across Europe and the year. End festivals are in danger.

Imperial College said a previous infection could provide 19% protection against re-infection by the new variant, noting that it had not reviewed hundreds of thousands of case studies, including 1,846 confirmed ones, as Omicron reported.

moves towards more restrictions

The new findings may add urgency to countries’ efforts to intensify vaccination booster campaigns to try to reduce the burden on hospitals and health systems. So far, there has been no major jump in hospitalizations or deaths due to the infection in the UK and elsewhere in Europe.

Uncertainty about the impact of Omicron’s Quickfire spread on the global economic recovery was reflected in the divergence of paths adopted by major central banks this week.

The Bank of Japan maintained its ultra-lax monetary policy on Friday, although it withdrew money for an emergency pandemic.

Germany, Ireland, Switzerland and Denmark were all moving to further travel restrictions, following in the footsteps of France, which this week closed its borders to most non-resident Britons.

Switzerland will extend the requirement to show proof of vaccination or recovery from the coronavirus to access indoor venues such as restaurants from Monday through January 24, while discos and bars will require a negative test result.

With the new version accounting for a fifth of the daily cases, the Danish government announced the closure of cinemas, cinemas, amusement parks and convention centers just seven days before Christmas Eve, as well as limiting large crowds in shops and stores. proposed.

“In record time, the rules of the game have been changed again,” Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen told reporters. “It’s not a complete shutdown of society, like we saw last winter. Our aim is still to keep society as open as possible.”

Denmark recorded nearly 3,000 omicron infections in the 24 hours to Thursday evening – doubling the previous day’s count – while the overall daily infections broke another record. The Danish parliament must approve the proposed sanctions before they can be implemented.

Ireland’s Deputy Prime Minister Leo Varadkar said in the face of a “brutal virus”, his government had no choice but to consider unpopular measures, including early closing times for bars and restaurants.

A German health ministry spokesman said under rules to be announced later on Friday, travelers traveling from Britain to Germany would have to quarantine for two weeks.

Rising COVID-19 death toll

Since the emergence of the coronavirus in Wuhan, China, nearly two years ago, more than 5 million people have died of COVID-19 globally and more than 272 million cases have been reported.

More than 8.5 billion doses of COVID-19 vaccines have been administered worldwide – an effort now compounded by the emergence of Omicron.

The version has driven infections in the UK close to the peak levels seen in early 2021, although hospitalizations and deaths remain low. European countries and the United States have also seen infections in December.

European Union governments have agreed to order more than 180 million doses of an adapted version of the vaccine being developed by BioNTech and Pfizer, the EU’s executive body, the head of the European Commission.

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