Growing complacency over Covid-19 and the politicization of the pandemic response will cost lives as the world is hit by new waves of the virus in the coming months, the CEO of Pfizer warned.

Albert Bourla said people were getting “tired” of the measures being taken to slow the spread of the virus, while “politicians want to claim victory”. Compliance with authorities’ requests for people to take booster vaccinations would fall even among those already vaccinated, he predicted.

This, coupled with dwindling immunity to previous infections and vaccinations, would likely lead to “constant waves” of Covid variants and deaths, he said.

“I feel that when I discuss [Covid] with my friends, people are willing to compromise and lower the bar: maybe we can accept that a few more old people are dying, [instead of] with a mask to work,” Bourla said in a statement. interview in Davos, Switzerland, where he noted that few participants in the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum were masked.

“What worries me is the complacency,” he said, adding that the effects can be seen in three to six months.

According to Airfinity, global demand for Covid vaccines, such as the one that Pfizer co-developed with Germany’s BioNTech, has halved since the beginning of the year. The health data group said people in rich countries were reluctant to take repeated booster shots, while hesitation with vaccines remained common in poorer countries.

Pfizer on Wednesday unveiled an initiative to offer all of its patent-protected drugs and vaccines, including the Covid shot, to 45 low-income countries on a nonprofit basis.

Ghana, Malawi, Rwanda, Senegal, and Uganda were the first countries to sign the “Accord for a Healthier World”. The countries would help identify and resolve hurdles beyond drug delivery, Bourla said, such as the need to improve diagnosis, education, infrastructure and storage