Annual booster vaccination against COVID-19 may not be “a good use of resources,” the boss of major vaccine maker AstraZeneca has said.
The UK health authorities are offering a booster jab to everyone over the age of 50 to protect them from COVID-19 and other respiratory diseases this winter.
But Pascal Soriot, AstraZeneca’s chief executive officer, said that he is unclear on whether “boosting people every year is that critical.”
In an interview with The Telegraph, Soriot said he believes most of the vaccinated population has a “foundation immunity against severe disease” at this point.
Pascal Soriot, executive director and CEO of AstraZeneca, testifies to Congress in Washington on Feb. 26, 2019. (Win McNamee/Getty Images)
He said: “People who are otherwise healthy—especially if they are young, have been vaccinated, have had a boost already—boosting them again, I’m just not sure it’s really a good use of resources.”…