Covid-19 vaccine boosters could mean billions for drugmakers | The Business Standard
Skip to main content
  • Epaper
  • Economy
    • Aviation
    • Banking
    • Bazaar
    • Budget
    • Industry
    • NBR
    • RMG
    • Corporates
  • Stocks
  • Analysis
  • Videos
    • TBS Today
    • TBS Stories
    • TBS World
    • News of the day
    • TBS Programs
    • Podcast
    • Editor's Pick
  • World+Biz
  • Features
    • Panorama
    • The Big Picture
    • Pursuit
    • Habitat
    • Thoughts
    • Splash
    • Mode
    • Tech
    • Explorer
    • Brands
    • In Focus
    • Book Review
    • Earth
    • Food
    • Luxury
    • Wheels
  • Subscribe
    • Epaper
    • GOVT. Ad
  • More
    • Sports
    • TBS Graduates
    • Bangladesh
    • Supplement
    • Infograph
    • Archive
    • Gallery
    • Long Read
    • Interviews
    • Offbeat
    • Magazine
    • Climate Change
    • Health
    • Cartoons
  • বাংলা
The Business Standard

Thursday
May 29, 2025

Sign In
Subscribe
  • Epaper
  • Economy
    • Aviation
    • Banking
    • Bazaar
    • Budget
    • Industry
    • NBR
    • RMG
    • Corporates
  • Stocks
  • Analysis
  • Videos
    • TBS Today
    • TBS Stories
    • TBS World
    • News of the day
    • TBS Programs
    • Podcast
    • Editor's Pick
  • World+Biz
  • Features
    • Panorama
    • The Big Picture
    • Pursuit
    • Habitat
    • Thoughts
    • Splash
    • Mode
    • Tech
    • Explorer
    • Brands
    • In Focus
    • Book Review
    • Earth
    • Food
    • Luxury
    • Wheels
  • Subscribe
    • Epaper
    • GOVT. Ad
  • More
    • Sports
    • TBS Graduates
    • Bangladesh
    • Supplement
    • Infograph
    • Archive
    • Gallery
    • Long Read
    • Interviews
    • Offbeat
    • Magazine
    • Climate Change
    • Health
    • Cartoons
  • বাংলা
THURSDAY, MAY 29, 2025
Covid-19 vaccine boosters could mean billions for drugmakers

Coronavirus chronicle

UNB/AP
26 September, 2021, 11:45 am
Last modified: 26 September, 2021, 03:38 pm

Related News

  • Aid funding disrupts child vaccinations almost as much as pandemic: UN
  • Trump's White House launches COVID website that criticizes WHO, Fauci and Biden
  • Drugmakers take wait-and-see approach amid possible US tariff on pharma imports
  • Chinese researchers find bat virus enters human cells via same pathway as Covid
  • Forgotten but not gone: Covid keeps killing, five years on

Covid-19 vaccine boosters could mean billions for drugmakers

Wall Street is taking notice. The average forecast among analysts for Moderna’s 2022 revenue has jumped 35% since President Joe Biden laid out his booster plan in mid-August

UNB/AP
26 September, 2021, 11:45 am
Last modified: 26 September, 2021, 03:38 pm
In this March 2021 photo provided by Pfizer, a technician works on a line for packaging preparation for the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine at the company's facility in Puurs, Belgium. Billions more in profits are at stake for some vaccine makers as the U.S. moves toward dispensing Covid-19 booster shots to shore up Americans' protection against the virus. Photo :AP via UNB
In this March 2021 photo provided by Pfizer, a technician works on a line for packaging preparation for the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine at the company's facility in Puurs, Belgium. Billions more in profits are at stake for some vaccine makers as the U.S. moves toward dispensing Covid-19 booster shots to shore up Americans' protection against the virus. Photo :AP via UNB

Billions more in profits are at stake for some vaccine makers as the US moves toward dispensing Covid-19 booster shots to shore up Americans' protection against the virus.

How much the manufacturers stand to gain depends on how big the rollout proves to be.

US health officials late on Thursday endorsed booster shots of the Pfizer vaccine for all Americans 65 and older — along with tens of millions of younger people who are at higher risk from the coronavirus because of health conditions or their jobs.

The Business Standard Google News Keep updated, follow The Business Standard's Google news channel

Officials described the move as a first step. Boosters will likely be offered even more broadly in the coming weeks or months, including boosters of vaccines made by Moderna and Johnson & Johnson. That, plus continued growth in initial vaccinations, could mean a huge gain in sales and profits for Pfizer and Moderna in particular.

"The opportunity quite frankly is reflective of the billions of people around the world who would need a vaccination and a boost," Jefferies analyst Michael Yee said.

Wall Street is taking notice. The average forecast among analysts for Moderna's 2022 revenue has jumped 35% since President Joe Biden laid out his booster plan in mid-August.

Most of the vaccinations so far in the US have come from Pfizer, which developed its shot with Germany's BioNTech, and Moderna. They have inoculated about 99 million and 68 million people, respectively. Johnson & Johnson is third with about 14 million people.

No one knows yet how many people will get the extra shots. But Morningstar analyst Karen Andersen expects boosters alone to bring in about $26 billion in global sales next year for Pfizer and BioNTech and around $14 billion for Moderna if they are endorsed for nearly all Americans.

Those companies also may gain business from people who got other vaccines initially. In Britain, which plans to offer boosters to everyone over 50 and other vulnerable people, an expert panel has recommended that Pfizer's shot be the primary choice, with Moderna as the alternative.

Andersen expects Moderna, which has no other products on the market, to generate a roughly $13 billion profit next year from all Covid-19 vaccine sales if boosters are broadly authorized.

Potential vaccine profits are harder to estimate for Pfizer, but company executives have said they expect their pre-tax adjusted profit margin from the vaccine to be in the "high 20s" as a percentage of revenue. That would translate to a profit of around $7 billion next year just from boosters, based on Andersen's sales prediction.

J&J and Europe's AstraZeneca have said they don't intend to profit from their Covid-19 vaccines during the pandemic.

For Pfizer and Moderna, the boosters could be more profitable than the original doses because they won't come with the research and development costs the companies incurred to get the vaccines on the market in the first place.

WBB Securities CEO Steve Brozak said the booster shots will represent "almost pure profit" compared with the initial doses.

Drugmakers aren't the only businesses that could see a windfall from delivering boosters. Drugstore chains CVS Health and Walgreens could bring in more than $800 million each in revenue, according to Jeff Jonas, a portfolio manager with Gabelli Funds.

Jonas noted that the drugstores may not face competition from mass vaccination clinics this time around, and the chains are diligent about collecting customer contact information. That makes it easy to invite people back for boosters.

Drugmakers are also developing Covid-19 shots that target certain variants of the virus, and say people might need annual shots like the ones they receive for the flu. All of that could make the vaccines a major recurring source of revenue.

The Covid-19 vaccines have already done much better than their predecessors.

Pfizer said in July it expects revenue from its Covid-19 vaccine to reach $33.5 billion this year, an estimate that could change depending on the impact of boosters or the possible expansion of shots to elementary school children.

That would be more than five times the $5.8 billion racked up last year by the world's most lucrative vaccine — Pfizer's Prevnar13, which protects against pneumococcal disease.

It also would dwarf the $19.8 billion brought in last year by AbbVie's rheumatoid arthritis treatment Humira, widely regarded as the world's top-selling drug.

This bodes well for future vaccine development, noted Erik Gordon, a business professor at the University of Michigan.

Vaccines normally are nowhere near as profitable as treatments, Gordon said. But the success of the Covid-19 shots could draw more drugmakers and venture capitalists into the field.

"The vaccine business is more attractive, which, for those of us who are going to need vaccines, is good," Gordon said.

Top News / World+Biz

Covid -19 / booster / billions / drugmakers

Comments

While most comments will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive, moderation decisions are subjective. Published comments are readers’ own views and The Business Standard does not endorse any of the readers’ comments.

Top Stories

  • Illustration: Duniya Jahan/TBS
    Tax gap between listed and non-listed firms may widen to 7.5% 
  • Incessant raining since this morning (29 May) caused intense traffic congestion on almost all the streets in the capital. The photo was taken from Tejgaon Industrial Area. Photo: Syed Zakir Hossain/TBS
    Commuters suffer as rain causes intense traffic congestion on city roads
  • Photo: Courtesy
    New notes featuring historic, archaeological structures of Bangladesh to be circulated from 1 June

MOST VIEWED

  • Google Pay. Photo: Collected
    Google Pay likely coming to Bangladesh soon
  • IFIC Bank receives Tk6,000 cr in new deposits in six months
    IFIC Bank receives Tk6,000 cr in new deposits in six months
  • Dhaka areas at a gridlock on Wednesday, 28 May 2025. Photo: Syed Zakir Hossain/TBS
    BNP, Jamaat rallies: Traffic clogs Dhaka roads, including Motijheel, Paltan, Dainik Bangla intersection
  • Abdul Awal Mintoo, chairman of National Bank Limited. Sketch: TBS
    'Regulatory support must for National Bank to restore depositors' confidence'
  • Mohammad Abdul Mannan, chairman FSIB Ltd. Sketch: TBS
    FSIB to bounce back soon
  • Mohammad Mamdudur Rashid, managing director and CEO, UCB. Sketch: TBS
    Customers’ trust and confidence fueling deposit growth at UCB

Related News

  • Aid funding disrupts child vaccinations almost as much as pandemic: UN
  • Trump's White House launches COVID website that criticizes WHO, Fauci and Biden
  • Drugmakers take wait-and-see approach amid possible US tariff on pharma imports
  • Chinese researchers find bat virus enters human cells via same pathway as Covid
  • Forgotten but not gone: Covid keeps killing, five years on

Features

In recent years, the Gor-e-Shaheed Eidgah has emerged as a strong contender for the crown of the biggest Eid congregation in the country, having hosted 600,000 worshippers in 2017. Photo: TBS

Gor-e-Shaheed Boro Maath: The heart of Dinajpur

2d | Panorama
The Hili Land Port, officially opened in 1997 but with trade roots stretching back to before Partition, has grown into a cornerstone of bilateral commerce.

Dhaka-Delhi tensions ripple across Hili’s markets and livelihoods

3d | Panorama
Photo: Collected

Desk goals: Affordable ways to elevate your study setup

3d | Brands
Built on a diamond-type frame, the Hornet 2.0 is agile but grounded. PHOTO: Asif Chowdhury

Honda Hornet 2.0: Same spirit, upgraded sting

3d | Wheels

More Videos from TBS

Trump's tariffs on various countries are illegal: US court

Trump's tariffs on various countries are illegal: US court

20m | TBS World
Politics should be done openly, not secretly, in every educational institution

Politics should be done openly, not secretly, in every educational institution

50m | TBS Today
Elon Musk steps down as head of DOGE under Trump administration

Elon Musk steps down as head of DOGE under Trump administration

2h | TBS World
Low Pressure over the Bay of Bengal, Signal No. 3 Issued for Sea Ports

Low Pressure over the Bay of Bengal, Signal No. 3 Issued for Sea Ports

3h | TBS Today
EMAIL US
contact@tbsnews.net
FOLLOW US
WHATSAPP
+880 1847416158
The Business Standard
  • About Us
  • Contact us
  • Sitemap
  • Advertisement
  • Privacy Policy
  • Comment Policy
Copyright © 2025
The Business Standard All rights reserved
Technical Partner: RSI Lab

Contact Us

The Business Standard

Main Office -4/A, Eskaton Garden, Dhaka- 1000

Phone: +8801847 416158 - 59

Send Opinion articles to - oped.tbs@gmail.com

For advertisement- sales@tbsnews.net