Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla said on Sunday that a fourth dose of the COVID-19 vaccine will be essential to continue to help keep hospitalizations manageable and sicknesses more mild.
"Right now, the way that we have seen, it is necessary, a fourth booster right now. The protection that you are getting from the third, it is good enough, actually quite good for hospitalizations and deaths," Bourla said while appearing on CBS's "Face the Nation."
"It's not that good against infections but doesn't last very long. But we are just submitting those data to the FDA [Food and Drug Administration], and then we will see what the experts also will say outside Pfizer," he added.
During his interview on Sunday, Bourla reiterated his company's goal of creating a vaccine effective against all variants of COVID-19 for longer periods of time.
