Pfizer CEO said third dose may be needed to boost vaccine

In the midst of a pandemic due to the new coronavirus it has generated COVID-19 disease, the vaccination campaign in the world does not stop, with logic vaccine shortage problem which exists on the market and agreements between countries for the distribution of doses.

In this scenario and as the United States seeks to lead the massive application of SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus vaccines, raising a new daily application record with 4.6 million injections per day, the CEO of Pfizer, Albert Bourla, admitted that a third dose may be needed one year after vaccination along with the first two.

Pfizer released a statement earlier this month stating that their COVID-19 vaccine was over 91% effective in protecting against the novel coronavirus and over 95% effective against serious illness for up to 6 months after the second dose. Pfizer’s data was based on more than 12,000 vaccinated participants. However, the researchers say more data is still needed to determine if the protections last after 6 months. Researchers do not yet know how long the protection lasts after a person has been fully vaccinated.

The Biden administration’s scientific director for COVID response David Kessler said today that Americans should expect to receive booster shots to protect against variants of the coronavirus. Kessler spoke with US lawmakers and said the currently licensed vaccines are very protective, but noted that the new variants could “call into question” the effectiveness of the injections.

“We don’t know everything at this point. We are studying the durability of the antibody response, ”he said. “It sounds strong, but there is some decline and certainly the variants challenge … make these vaccines work more. So I think for planning purposes, just for planning purposes, I think we should expect to have to push, ”he told the Special House subcommittee on the coronavirus response.

In February, Pfizer and BioNTech said they were testing a third dose of their COVID-19 vaccine to better understand the immune response against new variants of the virus. At the end of last month, the National Institutes of Health began testing a new Moderna vaccine designed to protect against a problematic variant first discovered in South Africa. Yes Pfizer-BioNTech is testing a booster injection of its COVID vaccine in a new trial to better understand the immune response against new variants of the virus.

They are also in talks with regulatory authorities to test a vaccine modified to specifically protect against the new, highly transmissible variant found in South Africa and elsewhere, known as B.1.351, as the second part of the same study. .

The companies believe their current two-dose vaccine will work against the South African variant, as well as against one found in the UK and elsewhere. But the studies will allow vaccine makers to prepare when additional protection is needed, they said. “The mutation rate in the current virus is higher than expected,” admitted Mikael Dolsten, chief scientific officer of Pfizer, in an interview. “It is reasonable to believe that we will end up with regular increases. And for strong vaccines, you may need to change the strain every few years, but not necessarily every year, ”he added.

In the first stage of the first arm of the study, a third dose of 30 micrograms will be given to 144 people who received the vaccine 6 to 12 months ago in the phase I safety trial. “Assuming regulatory approval, a redesigned vaccine would also be tested, both as a booster dose in people who have been vaccinated and in people who have not yet received the vaccine,” Dolsten said.

The study would not seek to measure the effectiveness of the vaccine like its large Phase III trial last year. Instead, it would measure the antibody response and study whether the blood of recipients can neutralize the new coronavirus variants, as well as the safety of a third dose. The United States discovered its first case of the South African variant in January and has since appeared in 14 states, according to US government data. Several studies suggest that it is more resistant to existing vaccines than other variants of the coronavirus.

Dolsten pointed out that mRNA vaccines like the Pfizer vaccine and BioNTech create a powerful response. But the immune response may wane over time. He also believes that a third dose of his vaccine will create a similar or better response than the second dose, and could be the next logical step to stay ahead of the circulating variants.

“We believe our vaccine is very active against all strains,” Dolsten said, noting that companies “want to be prepared for all options and be data-driven and science-based”.

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