COVID will be here for years but this may be last wave with restrictions: Pfizer CEO

New Delhi: Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla said on Monday that although the "most likely scenario" is that Coronavirus will be circulating for many years to come, he believes the current wave of infections will be the final one that requires restrictions, Times of Israel reported.

Bourla gave an interview to French outlet BFM TV to mark the announcement of an investment package by the pharma firm in France.

Bourla also touted the effectiveness and safety of vaccines, saying that he believed people will continue to require booster shots, the report said.

"It's important that people receive the three-dose regimen of Pfizer's Coronavirus vaccine, and will likely then require annual boosters although the immunocompromised could require them every four months," Bourla said, adding: "Children must be vaccinated in order to protect them. Its effectiveness in children is very, very, very good."

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Bourla also said that the company's anti-Covid pill, Paxlovid, "changes everything" as a new way to fight serious illness.

Pfizer had said in December last year that its Paxlovid pill reduced hospitalisation and deaths in vulnerable people by almost 90 per cent, the report added.

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