Prognosis

Pfizer Says Covid Could Endure, Sees Long-Term Need for Shot

  • Drugmaker sets two-phase business model for its virus vaccine
  • Virus could find ways to come back again and again, CEO says

Liquid vaccine flows from a flu shot at a hospital.

Photographer: Daniel Acker/Bloomberg
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Pfizer Inc. is preparing for the novel coronavirus to endure, leading to long-term demand for a seasonal shot to protect against Covid-19.

The New York pharmaceutical giant and its German partner BioNTech SE are front-runners in the race to develop a Covid-19 vaccine, employing a technology known as messenger RNA that can quickly advance through clinical studies. The companies dosed their first U.S. patient in a late-stage trial Monday, and they could be ready to seek approval from regulators as early as October.