Like its partner on its COVID-19 vaccine, BioNTech keeps upping its estimate for 2021 vaccine revenue. Last week, Pfizer jacked up its annual guidance on its vaccine sales, from $33.5 billion to a whopping $36 billion.
On Tuesday, it was the German company’s turn as it upped its 2021 estimate for vaccine revenue to €17 billion ($19.6 billion), an increase from the €15.9 billion ($18.7 billion) the company had predicted three months ago. The revised estimate comes with the expanded access of the shot to children and as a booster dose for older adults and those with conditions that make them more vulnerable to the virus, the company said.
On a conference call, BioNTech CEO Uğur Şahin said he expects booster shots for all will soon become a reality.
“The value of boosters, not only for the elderly but for the overall population, is becoming more and more evident,” Şahin said. “Real world data, particularly from Israel, is showing that booster vaccinations in the overall population can reduce dramatically the rate of infections compared to the population that did not receive the booster vaccination.”
Boosters will take on a more important role “particularly this winter,” because the vaccination rate still in not sufficient to tame the delta variant, Şahin added. Also on Tuesday, The New York Times reported that BioNTech's partner Pfizer plans to apply for FDA approval of universal adult boosters.
Asked to provide a likely schedule for booster dosage, Şahin said it was too early to say and that much depends on the emergence of new variants.
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“We will definitely see further adaptations of antibody escape variants coming in which will probably require adaptation of the vaccine,” Şahin said.