Moderna CEO Claims COVID-19 Pandemic Would Be Eliminated By Next Year

<p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>New Delhi:</strong> Stephane Bancel, CEO of vaccine maker Moderna, believes that the COVID-19 pandemic would be totally eliminated within the next year. He said that vaccines are being manufactured at a rapid pace to meet increasing global demand, which indicates that the COVID-19 pandemic would soon be eliminated.</p> <p style="text-align: justify;">However, in low-income countries, only 2% of the population have been administered vaccine doses so far. So when it comes to vaccination at the ground level, Stephane Bancel's statement looks weak.</p> <p style="text-align: justify;">This statement was given by Moderna CEO Stephane Bancel in an interview with Swiss newspaper Neue Zuercher Zeitung on Thursday.</p> <p style="text-align: justify;">He said, "there has been a boom in vaccine production around the world. In this way, by the middle of next year, vaccines would be available for the entire global population."</p> <p style="text-align: justify;">When asked when is the situation expected to become normal, Bancel said that it is expected to get better within a year.</p> <div class="key-facts-element animate-line"> <p style="text-align: justify;">Stephane Bancel said that those who get vaccinated would be safe from this virus, while those who don't would be at a much higher risk of falling ill and getting hospitalised. &nbsp;&nbsp;</p> <div class="key-facts"> <div class="key-facts-element animate-line"> <p style="text-align: justify;">Bancel also pointed out that people may also need booster doses of the vaccine in the coming days. The company is working on a half-dose vaccine formula for the booster dose.</p> <p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'Segoe UI', Roboto, Oxygen, Ubuntu, Cantarell, 'Open Sans', 'Helvetica Neue', sans-serif;">He also shared that his company is working on developing a 'delta-variant optimised' version of the vaccine, which would be the core of booster shots in 2022.&nbsp;</span></p> </div> </div> </div>