Moderna’s senior executives said Thursday that Covid-19 was moving from an epidemic to an endemic phase around the globe. Regions in the Northern Hemisphere may experience relative stability.

Moderna’s chief medical officer Paul Burton said that the company is in transition into an endemic period marked by stability in cases, hospitalizations and death at least for the Northern Hemisphere. This was a statement he made to analysts on Thursday after it reported its fourth quarter earnings.

North America, Europe and most of Asia are located in the Northern Hemisphere. Burton stated that Moderna will be closely following the path of the virus within the Southern Hemisphere. This includes countries such as Brazil or South Africa as the winter draws near.

Burton indicated that Covid will still circulate through an endemic phase, however at a less predictable and static rate. He said that Covid will follow the same seasonal pattern as other respiratory viruses like flu. Burton cautioned that Covid will continue to be a problem even after it becomes an endemic. Burton cited data from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, which showed that coronaviruses endemic to older people cause 340,000 hospitalizations and 22,000 deaths per year.

CNBC spoke with Stephane Bancel from Moderna on Thursday. He said that Covid was entering an endemic period in parts of the planet, but people will require another boost shot in the fall. He said that this is especially true for people over 50 or those with underlying medical conditions.

“I got a flu shot every year, not that I was worried of dying or getting hospitalized — I just don’t want to get sick,” Bancel said. Bancel stated that he believes Covid shots will play a similar role as seasonal flu viruses in the future during Thursday’s earnings conference.

Bancel stated that “some countries, such as the UK and other nations wanted to ensure supply because they believed very strongly that an endemic market would require annual boosters.”

Moderna announced Thursday that it was developing a booster vaccine against the omicron virus and variants like delta. Burton stated that the booster currently in use protects against hospitalization due to delta, and to a lesser degree from omicron. Burton said however that over time, the effectiveness of vaccines decreases.

Burton stated that there is a waning protection against infection-related hospitalizations over time. This fits in with the deep immune evasion known to be the case for omicron. In 2022, it will be necessary to target both the delta and omicron variants in order to boost immunity.

Burton explained that delta is known to be associated with high pathogenicity. Omicron, on the other hand, has been associated with significant morbidity due to infectivity and transmissibility. The next booster of vaccination may require protection against both omicron and delta.

Burton indicated that disease burden and death rates have fallen from the highest level during the original wave of virus infection.

Burton stated that each wave after the initial wave (mid 2021 with delta, late 2021, and early 2022, with omicron) had a lower level of morbidity, as the immune system became better at combating the SARS-CoV-2 virus.

Covid incidences in the U.S. are down 90% from the peak during Jan. 15’s omicron wave. Johns Hopkins University has compiled data that shows the U.S. reporting an average of 80,000 cases per days on a 7-day basis. That is about one-tenth of the daily pandemic records of over 800,000 cases.

Based on seven-day data averages from the Department. Health and Human Services.

The World Health Organization reports that Covid cases worldwide are at 21% lower and new deaths are at 8%. Except for the Western Pacific, infections are declining in all regions. New infections are still high at 12 million, according to reports for the week ended February 20. Over 67,000 people were killed by Covid in the world during this week.