Arrival of the first batch of American vaccine

A year after the start of negotiations with the American laboratory Pfizer, the first batch of the 20 million agreed doses will arrive tomorrow.

From what we knew so far, the first shipment would have 100,620 doses of vaccine, which will be used to supplement the Sputnik V regimens in those who have not yet received their second dose.

“A shipment with the first 100,620 doses of Covid-19 vaccine from the contract signed with the Pfizer laboratory for a total of 20 million doses for 2021 will arrive tomorrow at 4:00 p.m. at Ezeiza international airport, in return AA991 of American Airlines, ”said the ministry headed by Carla Vizzotti.

Two weeks ago, the minister communicated the details of the schedule of arrival of the doses that would be used, in principle, to vaccinate minors between 12 and 17 years old. Remember that this is one of the few vaccines authorized to be applied in this population, along with Moderna.

At the time, Vizzotti had indicated that there would be a delivery of 580,000 doses in September. Then, the agency published a detail on the progress of deliveries.

According to the Ministry of Health, the first shipment will arrive tomorrow and next week, depending on flight availability, 160,290 doses will arrive. On the other hand, 319,090 doses would arrive in the second half of September.

Besides, confirmed that in October, November and December, weekly shipments are expected to bring 19.5 million doses to the country.

“Pfizer’s dosages will primarily target 12-17 year olds universally,” Vizzotti said. In turn, the minister assured: “We will work hard to incorporate the Pfizer vaccine to simplify vaccination according to the possibilities of combining vaccines.

But the purpose of doses has changed recently. “By federal consensus, the 580,000 doses planned for September will be intended to advance in the vaccination of adolescents at risk, to complete heterologous schedules and, depending on the availability of dose income, to the vaccination of other groups of adolescents “, said the Ministry of Health in a press release.

Moderna’s vaccine creates twice as many antibodies as Pfizer’s, study finds

People immunized with Moderna’s vaccine have twice as many antibodies as those given injections of Pfizer and BioNTech, according to a peer-reviewed study published Monday in The Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA).

“This study demonstrated significantly higher humoral immunogenicity of SARS-CoV-2 mRNA-1273 vaccine (modern) compared to BNT162b2 vaccine (Pfizer-BioNTech), in infected and uninfected participants, and in all categories. age “, say the authors of the research.

The results suggest that the amount of active ingredient in doses and the interval between the first and second injection could play an important role in the difference in immune responses.

The study volunteers were healthcare workers from a center in Ziekenhuis Oost-Limburg, Belgium, who were to be vaccinated with 2 doses of mRNA-1273 (Moderna) or BNT162-2 (Pfizer and BioNTech). Out of 2,499 toilets, 1,647 participated in this study.

“A total of 688 were vaccinated with mRNA-1273 (mean age, 43.2 years; 76.7% female; 21.8% previously infected with SARS-CoV-2) and 959 with BNT162b2 ( mean age, 44.7 years; 84.9% female; 13.2% previously infected) ”, describes the report.

Participants were serologically tested before vaccination and 6-10 weeks after the second dose, whether or not they were infected with the coronavirus.

“Higher antibody values ​​were seen in participants vaccinated with 2 doses of mRNA-1273 [Moderna] compared to those vaccinated with BNT162b2 [Pfizer]”conclude the authors of the study published in JAMA.

De facto, for the study cohort that had been previously infected, the researchers also found that people immunized with the biotech candidate continued to have higher antibody titers than those who received that from Pfizer and BioNTech.

The only 2 vaccines authorized for emergency use based on messenger RNA technology require 2 doses to stimulate a robust immune response. Both are over 90% effective and effective against identified coronavirus variants, including delta.

However, Moderna’s vaccine contains 100 micrograms of active ingredient compared to 30 micrograms in Pfizer’s vaccine.

In addition, biotech injections are performed 4 weeks apart, compared to 3 weeks separating the 2-dose pharmaceutical regimen.

These factors, stress the authors who published in JAMA, could influence the outcome of the study.

Other research, not yet peer-reviewed, also showed that Pfizer’s antibody levels could drop to 84% in 6 months. When those of Moderna, according to its own data, remain stable between 90% and 93% over the same period.