Pfizer and BioNTech Said on Thursday that they are developing a Coronavirus disease The booster shooting target is a highly spread delta variant.
In an email to Global News, the two companies confirmed that they have seen “encouraging data from ongoing booster trials”. The vaccine showed that the third dose of the two doses of Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine is capable of providing ” The highest level of vaccine”. “Provides protection against known COVID-19 variants (including Delta).
According to their email statement, the updated version of Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine is aimed at “the complete spike protein of the Delta variant”, and the drugmaker expects that the third dose will increase “the antibody titer is higher, similar to the performance of the third dose. Beta variant (B.1.351).”
Mikael Dolsten, Pfizer’s chief scientific officer, said on Thursday that the vaccine is “highly active against Delta variants.”
But six months later, “as predicted, as the antibodies weaken, there may be a risk of re-infection,” he added.
Dorsten said that Pfizer’s own data in the United States showed that by the mid-1980s, the effectiveness of the vaccine against the variants circulating there in the spring fell after six months.
However, he said that data from Israel and the United Kingdom show that even if antibody levels drop, the vaccine’s effectiveness against serious diseases remains around 95%.
The vaccine was developed by German partner BioNTech SE, and in a clinical trial conducted by the two companies last year, it showed 95% efficacy in preventing symptomatic COVID-19.
Dolsten said that early data from the company’s own research showed that the third booster injection produced 5 to 10 times higher antibody levels than after the second injection, indicating that the third injection will provide promising protection.
He said that many countries in Europe and elsewhere have approached Pfizer to discuss enhanced doses, and some countries may start using them before potential US authorization.
Dorsten further stated that he believes that intensified injections are particularly important in older people.
The statement from Pfizer and BioNTech stated that the two companies are conducting preclinical and clinical trials to confirm this hypothesis, and that “the first mRNAs for the trial have been produced at BioNTech’s factory in Mainz, Germany.”
Dr. Eric Topol, professor of molecular medicine and director of the Scripps Research and Translational Institute in La Jolla, California, said the decision based on weakened antibody protection ignores the role of other important parts of the immune response, including memory B cells, which can be challenged by the virus. Manufacture antibodies on demand at any time.
“You need better research to assert this. It’s not just neutralizing antibodies,” Topol said.
Dorsten confirmed on Thursday that these companies also plan to require US regulators to approve booster doses of their COVID-19 vaccine within the next month.
However, according to Dr. William Schaffner, a vaccine expert at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, even if Pfizer’s booster is successfully approved for use by the FDA, this is only the first step. The booster still needs to be reviewed and recommended by consultants from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
“It’s not automatic anyway,” he said. Schaffner said that in fact, most of the public health bandwidth in the United States is still focused on encouraging Americans to get the first and second doses of vaccines.
-Documents from Reuters
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