Moderna's CEO says that people will likely need a fourth dose of a COVID-19 vaccine later this year.
According to The Washington Post and CNBC, Moderna CEO Stéphane Bancel said at a conference hosted by Goldman Sachs on Thursday that she expected regulators to recommend a second booster shot by the fall of 2022.
"I still believe we're going to need boosters in the fall of '22 and forward," Bancel said, according to CNBC.
She added that she expected the efficiency of booster shots to wane over time, just as what happened with the effects of the first two doses of the vaccine.
Bancel added that the South Korean and U.K. governments are already ordering additional doses in preparation.
"We have been saying that we believe first this virus is not going away," Bancel said. "We're going to have to live with it."
Bancel's comments echo those from White House medical adviser Dr. Anthony Fauci, who said late last month that he thought it was "conceivable" that a fourth dose would be needed.
"It is conceivable that in the future, we might need an additional shot, but right now, we are hoping that we will get a greater degree of durability of protection from that booster shot," Fauci said. "So we're going to take one step at a time, get the data from the third boost, and then make decisions based on scientific data."
