In this video from Motley Fool Live, recorded on Dec. 14, Corinne Cardina, bureau chief of healthcare and cannabis, and Fool.com contributor Brian Orelli discuss what investors in coronavirus vaccines should be looking out for. In the short term, Pfizer (PFE 0.55%), BioNTech (BNTX 0.58%), and Moderna (MRNA 1.69%) will be able to sell all the vaccine they can make. But there are aspects of the vaccines that long-term investors should be watching.
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Corinne Cardina: So zooming out a little bit. What are three takeaways for investors in the coronavirus vaccine space?
Brian Orelli: I think the length of immunity is going to be the most important. If it's a one and done, then it's hard to see the valuations at the levels they're at, but if we have to be taking the vaccine every year like the flu vaccine, or even once every four or five years, the valuations are a lot more reasonable.
Second, I think that this isn't a winner-take-all situation, especially initially. The manufacturing and distribution are going to be important in the short term, but countries are going to take whatever vaccines they can get a hold of. So I think everybody is going to be able to sell all of their vaccine.
In the long term, convenience is going to be important. If you can get a one-dose vaccine versus a two, that's going to be more important. Then the storage requirements for doctors' offices is going to be very important for the long-term sales of coronavirus vaccines.
Cardina: Totally. So a lot of that distribution and logistics will become more and more important over time.
Orelli: Or less and less important if somebody comes out with one that's better, right?
Cardina: Totally.
Orelli: I could see Pfizer's going away if it's a long-term situation because of the storage requirements. As long as the other manufacturers, they can make enough to meet the demand, I can see Pfizer's going away, or Pfizer will develop a second-generation one that doesn't require low temperature storage.
