Moderna Inc Chief Executive Stéphane Bancel thinks the coronavirus pandemic could be over in a year as increased vaccine production ensures global supplies, he told the Swiss newspaper Neue Zuercher Zeitung.
"If you look at the industry-wide expansion of production capacities over the past six months, enough doses should be available by the middle of next year so that everyone on this earth can be vaccinated. Boosters should also be possible to the extent required," he told the newspaper in an interview, report agencies.
Vaccinations would soon be available even for infants, he said.
"Those who do not get vaccinated will immunise themselves naturally, because the Delta variant is so contagious. In this way we will end up in a situation similar to that of the flu. You can either get vaccinated and have a good winter. Or you don't do it and risk getting sick and possibly even ending up in hospital."
Asked if that meant a return to normal in the second half of next year, he said: "As of today, in a year, I assume."
Bancel said he expected governments to approve booster shots for people already vaccinated because patients at risk who were vaccinated last autumn "undoubtedly" needed a refresher.
Its booster shot had half the dose of the original dose, which meant more of them would be available.
Report from Moscow adds: Russia on Friday recorded its highest daily coronavirus death toll following a spurt in cases linked to the Delta variant and a lacklustre vaccination drive.
A government tally reported 828 fatalities over the past 24 hours a day after Russia matched its previous record of 820.
The new figures bring Russia's total deaths from Covid-19 to 202,273 -- the highest toll in Europe.
Authorities have been accused of downplaying the severity of the outbreak.
Meanwhile, the overall number of global Covid cases surpassed 231 million.
According to Worldometers tally, the total case count mounted to 231,526,483 while the death tally from the virus reached 4,745,045 on Friday evening.
More than 6.06 billion doses have been administered across 184 countries, according to data collected by Bloomberg. The latest rate was roughly 32.3 million doses a day.
The US has recorded 42, 667, 412 cases to date and more than 684,286 people have died so far from the virus in the country, as per the university data.
Brazil, which has been experiencing new wave of cases since January, registered 21,308,178 cases. Brazil's Covid-19 death toll has also risen to 593,018.
India's Covid-19 tally rose to 33,593, 492 on Thursday, as 31,458 new cases were registered in 24 hours across the country, as per the federal health ministry's data.
Besides, as many as 319 deaths due to the pandemic since Thursday morning took the total death toll to 446,399.
Meanwhile another report adds: The protection provided by Covid-19 vaccines appears to wane over time, especially for people 65 and older, a US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention expert said Wednesday.
Ruth Link-Gelles, who helps lead the CDC's Vaccine Effectiveness Team, reviewed a series of studies looking at the overall effectiveness of vaccines in various groups between February and August and found similar patterns for Pfizer's and Moderna's vaccines, both made using mRNA.
Effectiveness started to wane a few months after people were fully vaccinated -- defined as two weeks after their second dose of either vaccine.
"For individuals 65 plus, we saw significant declines in VE (vaccine effectiveness) against infection during Delta for the mRNA products," Link-Gelles told the a meeting of CDC vaccine advisers.
"We also saw declines, particularly for Pfizer, for 65 up, that we're not seeing in younger populations. Finally there's evidence of waning VE against hospitalization in the Delta period," she said.
The CDC's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices met Wednesday to discuss the potential need for booster doses of vaccines.
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