Vaccine manufacturers are looking into whether booster doses could provide better protection against coronavirus variants, Andy Slavitt, the White House chief adviser on Covid’s response, said in an interview with the Washington Post on Thursday.
The White House official said Johnson & Johnson is already studying a second dose of the Covid-19 vaccine and noted that Moderna and Pfizer / BioNTech, which currently have vaccines authorized in the United States, “have plans to upgrade to continue vaccines. and, if necessary, create boosters along the way if additional mutants continue to exist, as they probably will. “
Johnson & Johnson said it is exploring whether to reorganize its Covid-19 vaccine to address the potential impact of the new strains. In November, the company announced that it had begun a large-scale phase 3 study for a two-dose regimen of its coronavirus vaccine.
“If you have the Johnson and Johnson vaccine, could you have another vaccine later?” Slavitt said. “And I will quickly give you two parts for this answer. One is: Johnson and Johnson, people may know, are currently evaluating whether – how their two-dose vaccine works – in other words, with their own booster. So, waiting for the results in this regard, waiting for what the FDA has to say if the vaccine is approved first, there will be – there could be a second shot by Johnson and Johnson. “
“More broadly, can you mix and match? If you have one, can you take another later? And the answer is, try to remember what you had because it was tested … but if you forgot, don’t panic. You can take another and the CDC says it’s okay in this case, “he continued.
The Independent Advisory Committee of the US Food and Drug Administration will meet on February 26 to consider whether a single dose of Johnson & Johnson vaccine is recommended for emergency use.
The Johnson & Johnson Covid-19 single-injection vaccine has been shown to be 66% effective in preventing moderate to severe disease in a global Phase 3 study, but 85% effective against severe disease, the company previously announced.
While a potentially safe and effective single-dose COVID-19 vaccine would have significant benefits, especially in a pandemic setting, the Janssen COVID-19 vaccine program has been designed to be extremely thorough and science-led. As such, we are investigating multiple doses and dosing regimens to evaluate their long-term efficacy, “said a November statement from J&J.
Slavitt also said that the administration is working to ensure that the vaccines will work against the variants.
“We are testing in vitro right now. … The good news for starters is the most prominent strain that came here, B.1.1.7, vaccines work well for – Pfizer and Moderna. The South African, who is close to the Brazilian … are … less efficient, but over a threshold “, said Slavitt.