- As more contagious COVID variants spread across the US, Pfizer is investigating the usefulness of a third booster dose.
- Pfizer hopes a third dose of the vaccine “will increase the antibody response 10 to 20 times.”
- Pfizer and Moderna plan to increase vaccine production and ship 140 million doses to the US in the next 4.5 weeks.
Pfizer’s coronavirus vaccine is 95% effective in preventing a COVID infection, a surprising figure that even surprised the team of researchers. With more infectious variants from 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. Pfizer’s vaccine currently requires the administration of two doses that are three weeks apart.
According to Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla, researchers hope a third booster shot “can increase the antibody response 10 to 20 times.”
Today’s Top Deal %title% List price:% original price% Price:% price% You save:% discount_amount% (% discount_percent%)
BGR is available on Amazon and may receive a commission Available at Amazon BGR may receive a commission
NBC News reports:
The new study will monitor the safety and efficacy of a third dose in two age groups: those 18 to 55 and those 65 to 85. The participants come from a group of people who were among the first to receive the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine: humans which offered for the initial phase 1/2 clinical trial of Pfizer, which began in May.
“We not only want to protect during this immediate pandemic, but also prepare for what we want to call the nasty variant of the future when one arrives,” senior VP William Gruber told Pfizer recently.
It is also noteworthy that Pfizer has been in discussions with regulators about developing a custom vaccine tailored to combat new COVID-19 variants, and in particular the tensions from South Africa. The hope is that modified mRNA vaccines will soon be approved by the regulator, similar to the fact that there are new flu vaccines based on new strains every year.
The company said the following via a press release:
Separately, Pfizer and BioNTech are constantly in talks with regulatory authorities, including the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the European Medicines Agency, to be prepared for possible future changes in the strain, regarding a clinical study that enables the registration to evaluate. a variant-specific vaccine with an adapted mRNA sequence.
This study uses a new construction of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine based on the B.1.351 lineage, which was first identified in South Africa. This could enable companies to quickly update the current vaccine if necessary to protect COVID-19 from circulating strains. In line with the updated guidelines issued by the FDA regarding emergency use of vaccines to prevent COVID-19, which provide recommendations for evaluating a modified vaccine to address variants, the companies hope to validate future modified mRNAs. vaccines with a similar regulation to follow. to what is currently in place for flu vaccines.
Meanwhile, there is a big possibility that Johnson & Johnson’s 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 attacks of COVID and 66% effective when moderate cases are considered.
Today’s Top Deal %title% List price:% original price% Price:% price% You save:% discount_amount% (% discount_percent%)
BGR is available on Amazon and may receive a commission Available at Amazon BGR may receive a commission
Yoni Heisler, a lifelong Mac user and Apple enthusiast, has been writing about Apple and the technology industry for over 6 years. His writing has appeared in Edible Apple, Network World, MacLife, Macworld UK and most recently in TUAW. If he does not write and analyze the latest events with Apple, he likes to catch Improv programs in Chicago, play football and cultivate new addiction to TV programs, the latest examples of which are The Walking Dead and Broad City .