CDC warns Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine is more effective than Pfizer’s

A new study published on Friday by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is the last suggests that the modern COVID-19 vaccine provides better long-term protection against hospitalization than Pfizer.

Researchers from the CDC carried out an analysis of nearly 3,689 adults who were hospitalized for severe COVID-19 between March 11 and August 15, 2021, a period that precedes and includes the rise of the Delta variant.

In fgeneral, 12.9% were fully vaccinated with Moderna vaccine, 20.0% with Pfizer-BioNTech and 3.1% with Johnson & Johnson. Throughout the period, Moderna’s vaccine was 93% effective against hospitalization, 88% for Pfizer and 68% for J&J.

Loss of efficacy against hospitalization in the event of Pfizer was particularly pronounced: increased from 91% between 14 and 120 days after vaccination to 77% more than 120 days after vaccination. On the contrary, Modern increased from 93% to 92% by comparing the same two periods.

The study also included a separate analysis of the levels of different types of antibodies generated by vaccines taken from 100 volunteers.

The vaccine Modern provoked higher antibody levels compared to Pfizer and J&J for a key component of the virus spike protein, which it uses to invade cells.

More and more research suggests the superiority of the vaccine Modern about that of Pfizer, including an earlier CDC study released last week.

Although the reasons are not entirely clear, This could be because the dose levels are higher: 100 micrograms versus 30. It could also be related to the dosing interval, since the injections of Pfizer are given three weeks apart, while those of Modern they are given four weeks apart.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is organizing a meeting of leading independent experts on Friday to weigh a possible third dose of Pfizer to the general population, and not just to immunocompromised people.

A few days ago, a study by Israeli scientists determined that a third dose of Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine reduces the risk of infection 10 times, comparing it with those who received two doses more than 5 months previously. In other words, the boost increases protection against SARS-CoV-2 to 95%. The research was published last Wednesday by its authors in the New England Journal of Medicine.

Israeli experts published their work in favor of the application of the third doses two days after a panel of the FDA and World Health Organization (WHO) announce that he had not found no strong evidence that a booster vaccine is needed for the general population.

Meanwhile, recent research published in the journal Science, has shown that the protection of The American Modern Laboratory’s formulation for COVID-19 lasts at least six months and there is no indication that a booster dose is needed.

This is what researchers from the La Jolla University, in California, United States, who discovered that the memory of the immune system remains strong during this period, even with a low dose of Moderna preparation, and is similar to the response of people cured of the disease. This period of time is “fundamental because that is when true immunological memory is formed,” he said. Daniela Weiskopf, one of the authors of the research, cited by the university center.

The preparation of Modern (MRNA-1273) elicited a strong response from CD4 + and CD8 + T cells, as well as antibodies for “at least six months” after participants in the clinical trial have been fully vaccinated, although it is likely that the immune response may last longer. This “strong” immune memory lasted across all age groups, even those over 70, a group particularly vulnerable to severe COVID-19.

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