New York: Drugmakers Pfizer Inc, BioNTech and Moderna Inc are expected to reap billions of dollars from Covid-19 booster shots in a market that could rival the $6 billion in annual sales for flu vaccines for years to come, analysts and investors say.
For several months, the companies have said they expect that fully inoculated people will need an extra dose of their vaccines to maintain protection over time and to fend off new coronavirus variants.
Now a growing list of governments, including Chile, Germany and Israel, have decided to offer booster doses to older citizens or people with weak immune systems in the face of the spreading Delta variant.
Late on Thursday, the US Food and Drug Administration authorised a booster dose of vaccines from Pfizer Inc and Moderna Inc for people with compromised immune systems.
Pfizer, along with its German partner BioN-Tech, and Moderna, have together locked up over $60 billion in sales of the shots just in 2021 and 2022. The agreements include supply of the initial two doses of their vaccines and billions of dollars in potential boos-ters for wealthy nations.
Analysts have forecast revenue of over $6.6 billion for the Pfizer/ BioNTech shot and $7.6 billion for Moderna in 2023.
