The Biden administration is “in talks” to make sure it can obtain COVID-19 recall photos if they become necessary, a senior official told lawmakers on Thursday. The announcement comes as drugmakers promote their progress in developing additional photos, which are designed to boost the body’s immune response a few months after the initial doses.
“We are in talks right now, making sure we can provide those vaccines for a growth or variants. We are in the process right now,” said Dr. David Kessler, chief executive for the COVID-19 administrative response.
Federal health officials and drug manufacturers have said for months that booster shots would be needed at some point, although it is not yet clear when this will happen. The photos will probably be very similar to the original version of the vaccines, but can be given in different doses or modified to protect against the variants.
Kessler warned that “no decision” had been made on the strategy for how booster shots would be administered, citing ongoing research into the duration of immunity created by vaccines. Recent studies by Pfizer and Moderna suggest that their COVID-19 photos remain effective for at least 6 months.
“With a lot of vaccines, we understand that at some point we have to grow, whether it’s 9 months, 12 months. And we’re preparing for that,” Kessler said.
The companies behind all three COVID-19 vaccines currently authorized for use in the United States have said they are looking for additional photos.
“There will probably be a need for a third dose, somewhere between 6 and 12 months. And then from there. There will be an annual revaccination. But all of that needs to be confirmed,” Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla hosted an event hosted by CVS Health on Thursday. .
In February, Pfizer announced that it was launching a study with their German partners BioNTech to examine the third dose of the vaccine, given 6-12 months after participants completed their first two doses. Moderna has announced that it intends to test another additional blow at the end of January.
“We believe that especially high-risk people should get a boost in the fall and we want to make sure we have the best possible momentum,” Moderna CEO Stéphane Bancel told Yahoo Finance on Wednesday, adding that he expects in a “growth market” governments are working to ensure booster doses.
The National Institutes of Health also announced in late March that it was launching early studies on a modified version of the Modern vaccine to target the B.1.351 virus first seen in South Africa. Pfizer is working on a potential version of its B.1.351 vaccine, although the drugmaker said earlier this month that its shots appear to be very effective against the mutant strain.
Johnson & Johnson were actively recruiting for the “ENSEMBLE 2” study to evaluate a two-dose regimen instead of its current single-injection vaccine. However, studies have been discontinued by the company in connection with concerns about rare coagulation events that are currently being investigated by the CDC and the FDA.
Data from all three studies will need to be reviewed by the FDA, which has established updated guidelines for authorizing additional doses of vaccines earlier this year. Even small changes to the next generations of COVID-19 vaccines will need to be supported by some clinical research, although in smaller studies than the large number of people that were needed to test the initial doses.
“We’ll probably look at all of them three or four times, and if everything seems consistent, then we might be moving more toward the flu-like model,” said Dr. Peter Marks, director of The FDA’s Center for Biological Assessment and Research said in February.
But finding room for booster doses could be difficult. The Government Accountability Office warned this week that the use of the Defense Production Act to prioritize COVID-19 vaccine production has reduced capacity for other critical drugs, including the seasonal flu vaccine.
Carrying out the next round of doses for Americans could also further delay a global vaccination effort already facing what WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has described as “severe supply constraints”. .
While the US has already administered nearly 200 million doses, promoting nearly 1 in 2 adults with at least one stroke, the World Health Organization warned on Wednesday that less than 0.2% of global vaccine supply has reached countries. with low income.
“Overall production capacity and supply chains have not been enough to deliver vaccines quickly and fairly where they are most needed. More funding is needed, but this is only part of the solution. Money does not help if there are no vaccines. to buy, “said Ghebreyesus.