As cases of COVID-19 continue to dip nationwide, Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla fears another ensuing wave of cases.

Bourla told CBS on Sunday that more variants are coming “and omicron was the first one that was able to evade.” The pharmaceutical CEO said people will need a fourth dose of the vaccine to protect themselves from another wave of SARS-CoV-2 cases.

While COVID vaccinees and boosters have helped protect people from serious illness, reducing COVID deaths and hospitalizations, Bourla told reporters that three doses are not good enough to prevent infections, especially from variants such as omicron.

COVID cases continue to decline in Massachusetts and across the nation. In response to the low number of new cases, commonwealth towns and cities have begun rescinding mask mandates, vaccine transports and other COVID-related restrictions.

The virus hasn’t gone anywhere.

Other countries, such as China, have reported a surge in fast-spreading cases over the past coupled days.

Former President Barack Obama also confirmed that he tested positive for COVID-19 on Sunday and reminded people to get vaccinated “even as cases go down.”

Dr. Jeremy Luban, a professor of molecular medicine at UMass Chan Medical School and other medical professionals predict that the virus will never completely go away.

“We’ve had quite a number of variants and people are tired of it,” Luban said. “Alarms have been sounded. I think the good news through all of it and all the experience we’ve had is again the vaccines seem to have held up.”

The Pfizer CEO told CBS that their company is in the midst of developing another vaccine that’ll protect against omicron and all other variants of SARS-CoV-2.

“The goal is to create something that can protect for at least a year,” Bourla told CBS on Sunday. “And if we are able to achieve that, then I think it is very easy to follow and remember so that we can go back to really the way (we) used to live.”

©2022 Advance Local Media LLC. Visit masslive.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

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