Topline
Moderna CEO Stphane Bancel said that the Covid-19 pandemic may be over within a year if vaccine production ramps-up to meet global demand. This is a bold statement, considering that only 2% have received vaccine doses.
Moderna CEO Stephane Bancel attended the 2019 Forbes Healthcare Summit at Jazz at Lincoln Center in New York City. Getty Images
The Key Facts
Bancel stated that the world's vaccine production capacity is expanding and will ensure enough vaccines to reach all people by next year. Bancel answered a question about when things will return to normal. He said that the rapid spread of the highly contagious delta virus means that anyone who doesn't get vaccinated will most likely become immunized naturally. According to Bancel, people who are vaccinated will have a great winter. Those who don't will be forced to endure the danger of becoming sick from delta. Bancel stated that he believes people will require a booster shot in the near future and that the company's version will contain half the dose of the original. Moderna is currently testing a Delta-optimized version of the vaccine, which will be the basis for booster shots in 2022.
Big Number
43.9% According to Our World In Data, this is the percentage of the global population that has received at most one dose of the Covid-19 vaccine. This number is heavily distorted by high vaccination rates in high income and upper-middle income countries, where more than 60% have received at most one dose. This number drops to below 30% in lower-middle income countries, and 2.1% in lower-income ones.
Important Background
This week, the United Nations General Assembly witnessed the global inequity of vaccine distribution. The Norwegian Prime Minister Erna Sollberg addressed the assembly and noted that less than one in twenty Africans were fully vaccinated, while that figure was only one in two in Europe. In an attempt to address this issue, the U.S. President Joe Biden stated in his UNGA address, that America would purchase 500 million additional doses of Pfizer vaccines for the world. This is on top of its existing 500 million shot commitment.
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Moderna chief executive believes pandemic will be over within a year - newspaper Reuters
Moderna CEO: Vaccine Boosters and Flu/Covid Combo Shots are Likely For the Future (Forbes).
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