The CEO of pharmacy giant Moderna has weighed in on whether everyone needs to get annual covid booster shots – and his answer is no.

Stéphane Bancel made his position clear at Yahoo Finance’s All Markets Summit. He said he believes covid will become more like the flu.

“I think it’s going to be like the flu. If you’re a 25-year-old do you need an annual booster every year if you’re healthy? You might want it to protect older people,” Bancel said. “You might want it because you don’t want to get sick and miss work or miss vacation or so, but I think it’s going to be similar to flu where the key is going to be people at high risk, people above 50 years of age, people with co-morbidities, people with cancer and other conditions [and] transplants.

He added the number of people who fall into the vulnerable group account for 1.5 billion annually. Still, for others, the decision as to whether to get the vaccine would be a personal choice, Bancel said.

“It’s a lot of people that are going to need an annual booster. And people that are younger are going to have to decide for themselves what they want to do,” Bancel continued.

He noted he’s decided to take a flu shot for the last 20 years because he didn’t want to get sick, adding the data on covid shows it is moving towards that state.

“It’s the first time we’re going to be more in an ‘endemic’ setting (rather) than a pandemic setting,” Bancel said.

Bancel’s comments come the week after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) approved vaccines for children as young as five from his company and their competitor Pfizer.

A new report from Airfinity also said Moderna and Pfizer would be increasing the cost of covid-19 vaccines and boosters due to decreased demand, The Daily Mail reported.

“Moderna is estimated to be selling vials for between $32 – $50 with the United States potentially paying even more. Moderna indicated that the potential prices in the US market could range from $64 to $100 per dose,” the report said.

PHOTO: Moderna CEO Stephane Bancel during a gathering of Boston College Chief Executives Club, April 4, 2022. (AP /Charles Krupa)