Moderna CEO Stephane Bancel on the ‘extremely sad’ situation in Ukraine.
Moderna CEO Stephane Bancel discussed what a Russian invasion of Ukraine means for the vaccine maker in a wide-ranging interview on “Mornings with Maria” Thursday.
“It’s a bit early to know,” Bancel told FOX Business’ Maria Bartiromo. “If you look at it, this is not a very large country. So this is not a big impact to us if it stays contained to Ukraine.”
“It’s, of course, extremely sad,” he continued, calling the situation a tragedy. “You see what’s happening to Ukrainian people in Europe, that’s all very scary right now. I hope this would be solved quickly.”
Bancel went on to say that he believes the world is starting to move towards an “endemic” setting, and the probability of a new virulent coronavirus variant remains relatively low.
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“I think there’s a 20% chance that we might have a new variant that is more virulent, causing more disease than what we had with omicron,” Bancel noted. “So I think it’s a good scenario.”
In a wide-ranging interview on ‘Mornings with Maria,’ Moderna CEO Stephane Bancel discusses how a Russian invasion could impact the company and COVID-19 progression.
Moderna remains in clinical study phases for its omicron-specific booster vaccine, according to Bancel, who believes COVID-19 immunity will “wane” in vaccinated individuals by fall.
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“We want to be ready with anything that biology will throw at us by the time the fall comes,” Bancel explained, “because I’m not too worried about the next few months in the spring and summer.”
