Eris Variant Rises: New COVID Vaccines Coming Next Month

News Desk

New York: A new coronavirus vaccine will be released next month to combat the new Omicron variant ‘Eris’ which became active last month. However, American health experts and analysts say it is likely to be coolly received even as hospitalisations from ‘Eris’ rise around the country.

When the vaccine first became available in 2021, more than 240 million people (or 73 per cent of the population) in the U.S. received at least one dose of the vaccine but demand for the vaccine has declined sharply since then.

By the fall of 2022, most people had either contracted the coronavirus or had received the vaccine which is why fewer than 50 million people had received the vaccine.

According to the Reuters report, healthcare providers and pharmacies like CVS Health will begin offering vaccines next month.

Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF) Survey Methodology Director Ashley Kerzinger said that they will face waning concerns about the virus as well as scepticism about the vaccine’s merits.

If public health officials want to ensure that the majority of adults receive the vaccine, they need to make it clear to the American public that the coronavirus is not over and that it is still a threat to them, further said Ashley.

She added that during a KFF survey earlier this year, the reason most people gave for not getting the vaccine shots was that they felt it would prevent them from contracting the coronavirus or other infections. Therefore, thanks to earlier vaccinations, they will still be protected from this virus.

After the Corona vaccine maker’s fall inoculation campaign failed to live up to expectations, big names like Pfizer and BioNTech have recently warned that they may have to cut jobs if the situation continues. Its biggest competitor, Moderna, informed that the demand for the vaccine may decrease by 50 million shots.

Pfizer and Moderna’s vaccine sales reached $56 billion worldwide last year, while analysts project sales of around $20 billion this year.

Jefferies Analyst Michael Yee stated that he does not expect the fall campaign to be similar to last year.

Yee added that if you look at what happened last winter, 50 million people were vaccinated in America. This time, the number of people who got vaccinated is likely to be less because, compared to last year, there is less concern about Corona.

The COVID public health emergency ended in May this year and the government has handed over the responsibility of vaccination to the private sector.