Pfizer CEO says omicron appears milder but spreads faster and could lead to more Covid mutations
Published Tue, Dec 7 202110:58 AM EST
Key Points
- “I don’t think it’s good news to have something that spreads fast,” Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla told The Wall Street Journal.
- “Spreads fast means it will be in billions of people and another mutation may come. You don’t want that,” he said.
- Bourla cautioned that it is difficult to draw definitive conclusions from the wave of infection in South Africa right now.
In this article
Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla addresses a press conference after a visit to oversee the production of the Pfizer-BioNtech COVID-19 vaccine at the factory of U.S. pharmaceutical company Pfizer in Puurs, Belgium April 23, 2021.
John Thys | Pool | Reuters
Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla on Tuesday said the omicron variant of the virus that causes Covid-19 appears to be milder than previous strains, but also seems to spread faster and could lead to more mutations in the future.
“I don’t think it’s good news to have something that spreads fast,” Bourla told The Wall Street Journal during an interview at the paper’s CEO Council Summit. “Spreads fast means it will be in billions of people and another mutation may come. You don’t want that.”
White House chief medical advisor Dr. Anthony Fauci said reports over the weekend from South Africa suggest omicron is not as severe as initially feared, while noting that more data is needed to fully assess the risk posed by the variant.
