Moderna CEO Stephane Bancel admitted on a television program earlier this week that COVID is “very similar” to the seasonal flu and that people over 50 should prioritize booster shots.
Bancel made the statement on a Yahoo! All Markets Summit discussing booster uptake.
“Again, if you’re a 25-year-old. Do you need an annual booster every year if you’re healthy? You might want it to protect older people, or you might want it because you don’t want to get sick and miss work or miss vacation or so on,” said Bancel.
“I think (COVID) is going to be very similar to the flu where there’s going to be people at high risk. People over 50 years of age, people with comorbidity, people with cancer and other conditions.”
“People that are younger are going to decide for themselves what they’re going to do.”
Uptake for the COVID-19 booster series has been very low in Canada. Recent numbers show that only 8.1% of the population has received a booster dose since Aug. 1, 2022.
The news comes after a shocking admission by Pfizer in the European Parliament that their vaccine was never tested for transmission.
“Was the Pfizer Covid vaccine tested on stopping the transmission of the virus before it entered the market. If not, please say it clearly. If yes, are you willing to share the data with this committee?” Dutch Member of European Parliament Rob Roos asked Pfizer executives on Oct. 10.
“Regarding the question around ‘did we know about stopping the (transmission) before it entered the market?’ No. We had to really move at the speed of science,” said President of Developed Markets Janine Small.
The top fraud and financial crime prosecutor in the European Union has since opened an ongoing investigation into a COVID-19 vaccine contract signed with major vaccine manufacturers.
Although scant on details, the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) wrote a statement it called an “exceptional confirmation” due to “extremely high public interest” admitting that an investigation is underway on Friday.
“The European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) confirms that it has an ongoing investigation into the acquisition of COVID-19 vaccines in the European Union,” the statement reads.
“This exceptional confirmation comes after the extremely high public interest. No further details will be made public at this stage.”
