Fourth shot “is necessary” Pfizer CEO says as experts monitor BA.2

Enlarge / Pfizer Chairman and CEO Dr. Albert Bourla speaks onstage at the 2022 SXSW Conference at JW Marriott Austin on March 14, 2022, in Austin. (credit: Getty | Chris Saucedo)

While US health experts closely monitor upticks of COVID-19 cases in Europe as well as the global rise of the omicron subvariant BA.2, Pfizer is renewing calls for fourth doses of COVID-19 vaccine.

In an interview Sunday on CBS' Face the Nation, Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla said that a fourth dose-aka a second booster-is "necessary."

"The protection what we are getting from the third [doses], it is good enough-actually, quite good for hospitalizations and deaths," Dr. Bourla said. But, "it's not that good against infections" with omicron, and "it doesn't last very long." He reported that Pfizer is "working very diligently" to come up with a new dose that will protect against all variants and provide longer-lasting protection.

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