Pfizer expects 24% take-up for Covid shots in the US

Pfizer expects a 24% vaccination rate for Covid-19 shots in the US in 2023, CFO David Denton said on Monday, which equates to roughly 82-million people.

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has authorised updated Covid-19 vaccines from Pfizer and its partner, BioNTech, as well as from Moderna as the country prepares to start an autumn vaccination campaign. A third vaccine from Novavax is also under review.

During the previous revaccination campaign, when most Americans had either already had the Covid virus or been previously vaccinated, only about 56.5-million people got the updated booster shots, according to federal data. But last week, a Reuters/Ipos poll showed that about half of Americans are interested in getting an updated Covid-19 vaccine.

Rival Moderna has said it expects US demand for the shots to be between 50-million and 100-million doses in the autumn.

Demand for Covid-19 vaccines has dropped sharply since 2021, when they first became available.

Pfizer said in August it would launch a cost-cutting programme if its Covid-19 vaccine and antiviral treatment keep underperforming expectations in the coming months due to plunging demand.

At the JPMorgan US All Stars Conference, Denton said Pfizer will provide more details on its cost-cutting measures in the second half of 2023. “We want to make sure that we’re investing appropriately based on our R&D pipeline, and the investments that we’re making and bets that we made ... are aligned to the revenue performance of the company long term,”  Denton said.

Reuters