Pfizer has launched a clinical trial to test the efficacy of a third booster shot of its coronavirus vaccine. The study will involve people who received the vaccine during the first two stages of clinical trials, which began last May. They will be broken down into two groups, those between the ages of18 to 55 and those who are 65 to 85.
While Pfizer's vaccine has already been shown to be 95% effective at preventing COVID infections, the pharmaceutical company believes a third shot can provide even more protection against the virus.
"We believe that the third dose will raise the antibody response 10- to 20- fold," Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla told NBC News'Lester Holt.
Bourla said that it is likely that people will need to get vaccinated against COVID-19 every year as the virus continues to mutate.
"Every year, you need to go to get your flu vaccine," Bourla said. "It's going to be the same with Covid. In a year, you will have to go and get your annual shot for Covid to be protected."
The company is also planning to test whether a modified version of its vaccine is just as effective against a variant of the coronavirus that originated in South Africa.
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