The Biden administration is getting ready for the potential want

President Joe Biden places his hand on a man’s shoulder during a visit to a coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccination center at Virginia Theological Seminary in Alexandria, Virginia, the United States, on April 6, 2021.

Kevin Lemarque | Reuters

Biden’s government is preparing for the potential need for Covid-19 vaccine booster shots, although nothing is certain, a top US official said Friday.

“The need for additional footage in the future is obviously a foreseeable potential event,” Andy Slavitt, senior advisor to President Joe Biden’s Covid Response Team, told reporters during a news conference Friday. “I would like to emphasize that while there is certainly speculation about it, this is far from saying that it will.”

Should Americans need booster vaccinations, the US government would likely need to reach agreements with drug manufacturers to provide additional doses and make plans to distribute vaccines.

Slavitt said Friday the government was considering the need to secure additional doses.

“I can assure you that as we plan, if the President orders the purchase of additional vaccines, as he has, and if we focus on all of the production expansion opportunities that we are talking about, we have a great many scenarios in mind have. “he said.

Albert Bourla, CEO of Pfizer, said in comments first broadcast Thursday that people will likely need a third dose or booster shot of a Covid-19 vaccine within 12 months of being fully vaccinated. Bourla also said it is possible that people may need to be vaccinated against the coronavirus annually, as with seasonal flu.

“A likely scenario is that a third dose is likely to be needed, somewhere between six and twelve months, and from there there will be an annual revaccination, but all of this needs to be confirmed. And again, the variants will play a key role,” he said CNBC’s Bertha Coombs during an event with CVS Health.

“It is extremely important to suppress the pool of people who may be susceptible to the virus,” he added.

Pfizer and Moderna have both stated that their two-dose Covid-19 vaccines, which use similar technology, will remain highly effective six months after the second dose. However, researchers still don’t know how long protection against the virus will last after six months of full vaccination, although health experts believe that protection wears off after some time.

On Thursday, David Kessler, the Biden government’s chief science officer for Covid Response, said Americans should expect booster vaccinations to protect against coronavirus variants. He told US lawmakers that currently approved vaccines offer high levels of protection, but that new variants may “question” the effectiveness of the shots.

“We don’t know everything right now,” he told the House Select subcommittee on the coronavirus crisis.

“We are investigating the durability of the antibody response,” he said. “It seems strong, but that’s wearing off a bit, and no doubt the variants are challenging … they make these vaccines work harder. So I think we should be planning on doing it, just for planning purposes may have to. ” Boost. “

Moderna CEO Stephane Bancel told CNBC on Wednesday that the company is hoping to have a booster shot for its two-dose vaccine in the fall.