Pfizer, Moderna to earn billions from COVID booster shots sales

Pfizer Inc, BioNTech and Moderna Inc are expected to earn billions of dollars from COVID-19 booster shots, said analysts and healthcare investors.

Drugmaker companies have said earlier that to protect people from variants for a longer period of time, an extra dose of vaccines will be required.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Thursday had authorized booster dose from Pfizer and Moderna.

As Delta variants spreads globally, many governments such as Chile, Germany and Israel have decided to provide booster doses to older people as well as people with weak immunity.

Pfizer and Moderna have earned over $60 billion in sales of booster shots in 2021 and 2022. Analysts have forecast revenue of over $6.6 billion for the Pfizer/BioNTech shot and $7.6 billion for Moderna in 2023, mostly from booster sales, reported Reuters.

Vaccine makers have argued the need of booster shots as evidence shows waning antibody levels in vaccinated people after six months and infections through new variants.

Some research also suggests that Moderna vaccine is more effective than Pfizer vaccine against Delta variant.

On the other hand, the World Health Organization has asked governments to hold off on booster shots until more people worldwide receive their initial doses.

"We don't know what the market forces will be," Moderna President Stephen Hoge said in an interview.

"At some point, this will become a more traditional market - we'll look at what are the populations at risk, what value are we creating, and what are the number of products that serve that value. That will ultimately impact price."

(With inputs from Reuters)

Picture Credits: Reuters