Reminder images against covid-19 coronavirus could become a common necessity, according to recent comments from David Kessler, head of the covid-19 work team of President Joe Biden, and Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla.
Kessler said during a meeting of the House congressional committee today, that booster shots may be needed within a year and that “those who are most vulnerable will have to go first” to get them. The reason, he said, is that the vaccine’s immunity could decline over time and could be “caused” by new variants of the virus.
The head of Pfizer, the maker of one of the covid-19 vaccines authorized for emergency use in the United States, said in a recent interview that it is “likely” that people will need a third booster vaccine within 12 months. Bourla also left open the possibility that annual shots against the coronavirus would become a reality.
Bourla’s statements were made in time an interview with CNBC, as part of a joint event organized by CVS Health. The event aired on Thursday, but took place two weeks ago, on April 1. Discussing the potential long-term protection offered by the Pfizer vaccine, Bourla discussed other vaccine-preventable viral diseases, such as polio and influenza, which require various vaccination programs. And in the case of coronavirus, it is probably closer to the flu, which requires annual vaccination.
“A likely scenario is that there will probably be a need for a third dose somewhere between six and 12 months and then there will be an annual revaccination,” Bourla said.
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Similar mRNA vaccines developed by Pfizer / BioNTech and Moderna have been extremely effective (over 90%) in preventing covid-19 diseases, especially serious diseases and death. And more recent real-world evidence has suggested that they are equally effective in preventing infection and significantly reducing the risk of transmission. Earlier today, the Wall Street Journal reported that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has so far identified only 5,800 cases of “discovery” out of 66 million Americans receiving a covid-19 vaccine, an infection rate of less than 0.008%. Of these rare cases among fully vaccinated people, a third were asymptomatic, 7% needed hospitalization and about 1% died – 74 deaths in total. For comparison, about 1,000 people died every day from covid-19 in the US this spring, with more than 3,000 people dying every day during the peak of winter.
Other research has suggested that reinfection is rare in people naturally infected at least three months later, while recent data from Pfizer clinical trials have suggested that vaccine immunity remain strong for at least six months. It is certainly possible for these vaccines to provide lasting protection and more than that.
Our current vaccines are still widely effective against various variants of the coronavirus that have emerged in recent months, but some (such as B.135, first found in South Africa) seem slightly better at evading immunity than others. And even before these variants became widespread, scientists warned that the coronavirus could move significantly along the way, in ways that would allow it to evade the immunity offered by natural infection or vaccination.
Both Pfizer and Moderna are currently conducting processes of a booster strategy against B.135, and Moderna is also testing a modified dose of its vaccine to specifically target the variant. In the end, though, the best long-term solution to our covide problems will probably be a universal vaccine that can effectively target all future strains of the virus – a plan that scientists are already working on, according to Anthony Fauci. spoken in front of members of the House on Thursday.