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Pfizer chief Albert Bourla said Monday that although the “most likely scenario” is that the coronavirus will be circulating for many years to come, he believes the current wave of infections will be the last to require restrictions.
According to foreign media, the Telegraph reports, Bourla gave an interview to the French newspaper BFM TV to mark the announcement of an investment package by the pharmaceutical firm in France.
Bourla also defended the effectiveness and safety of vaccines, saying he believed people would continue to seek booster doses.
“It is important for people to take the three-dose regimen of the Pfizer coronavirus vaccine, and they are likely to need annual boosters afterwards, although those with impaired immunity may require them every four months,” Bourla said. . “Children need to be vaccinated to protect them. “Its effectiveness in children is very, very, very good.”
Bourla also said that the company’s anti-COVID pill, Paxlovid, “changes everything” as a new way to fight serious diseases.
Pfizer said in December that its Paxlovid pill reduced hospitalizations and deaths in vulnerable people by almost 90 percent.
In the interview, Bourla said the company was making a plan that would include an investment of 520 million euros ($ 593.7 million) in France over the next five years, which would include a partnership with French company Novasep to develop a treatment with anti-COVID pills.
France, like many other countries, is facing a record number of infections triggered by the highly contagious Omicron variant.
The French parliament on Sunday passed a law that would exclude unvaccinated persons from all restaurants, sports arenas and other facilities, the central measure of the government’s efforts to protect hospitals from overcrowding.
The government of French President Emmanuel Macron hopes the move will be enough to limit the number of patients filling tense hospitals across the country without resorting to a new blockade.
More than 76% of French ICU beds are occupied by virus patients, most of them unvaccinated and about 200 people with the virus are dying every day.
Like many countries, France is under pressure from the Omicron variant, recording more than 2,800 positive cases per 100,000 people over the past week.
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