A flu pandemic is only a matter of time, Pfizer expert predicts

The scientist behind Pfizer’s Covid vaccine says a flu pandemic is only a matter of time Vaccine researcher Kathrin Jansen said at the #STATSummit that a flu pandemic is inevitable: “The question is, does it come tomorrow or 50 years from now?” Olivia Goldhill STAT

BOSTON — Even after leading the charge combating the worst pandemic in a century, vaccine researcher Kathrin Jansen doesn’t feel that she can relax. Another pandemic — this one based on an influenza virus — is inevitable, Jansen said at the annual STAT Summit on Tuesday.

“Before SARS-CoV-2, we had worried about pandemic flu. And just because corona came first doesn’t mean flu is just sitting there,” Jansen, who recently retired as head of vaccine R&D at Pfizer, told STAT senior writer Helen Branswell.

An influenza-based pandemic is only a matter of time, Jansen added: “The question is, does it come tomorrow or 50 years from now?”

...