- As more contagious COVID variants spread to the United States, Pfizer is exploring the usefulness of a third booster dose.
- Pfizer hopes a third dose of the vaccine could “increase the antibody response by 10 to 20 times.”
- Pfizer and Moderna plan to boost vaccine production and deliver 140 million doses to the United States in the next 4.5 weeks.
The Pfizer coronavirus vaccine is 95% effective in preventing COVID infection, a staggering number that has surprised even the company’s research team. However, with more contagious variants in the UK and South Africa already spreading in the US, Pfizer is currently investigating what kind of impact a third booster dose would have on the immune system’s response to COVID. The Pfizer vaccine currently requires two doses set at three weeks.
According to Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla, the researchers hope that a third booster shot can “increase the antibody response by 10 to 20 times.”
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NBC News reports:
The new study will monitor the safety and efficacy of a third dose in two age groups: those aged 18 to 55 years and those aged 65 to 85 years. Participants came from a group of people who were among the first to receive the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine: people who volunteered for the initial Pfizer 1/2 phase clinical trial, which began in May.
“We want to protect ourselves not only during this immediate pandemic, but to prepare for what we like to call the ugly future, if anyone shows up,” Pfizer senior vice president William Gruber said recently.
It is also worth noting that Pfizer has been in discussions with regulators about the development of a modified, customized vaccine to combat the new COVID-19 variants and, in particular, the South African strain. The hope is that modified mRNA vaccines will be able to obtain rapid regulatory approval, similar to how new influenza vaccines exist each year based on new strains.
The company said the following in a press release this week:
Separately, to be prepared for any potential future strain changes, Pfizer and BioNTech are in ongoing discussions with regulators, including the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the European Medicines Agency, regarding a clinical trial that to allow registration. a variant-specific vaccine having a modified mRNA sequence.
This study would use a new construction of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine based on line B.1.351, first identified in South Africa. This could position companies to quickly update their current vaccine if there is a need to protect against COVID-19 from circulating strains. In line with the FDA’s updated guidelines on the emergency use of vaccines to prevent COVID-19, which provides recommendations for evaluating a modified vaccine to address variants, companies hope to continue validating future modified mRNA vaccines with a similar regulatory pathway. to what currently exists for influenza vaccines.
Meanwhile, there is a strong possibility that the Johnson & Johnson single-dose COVID-19 vaccine will arrive early next month. The J&J vaccine in clinical trials has been shown to be 85% effective in preventing severe COVID attacks and 66% effective when moderate cases are considered.
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A lifelong Mac user and passionate about Apple, Yoni Heisler has been writing about Apple and the technology industry in general for over 6 years. His writings have appeared in Edible Apple, Network World, MacLife, Macworld UK and, most recently, TUAW. When not writing about and analyzing the latest developments with Apple, Yoni enjoys catching Improv shows in Chicago, playing football and cultivating new addictions to TV shows, the latest examples being The Walking Dead and Broad City.