On July 8, Pfizer announced that it will develop a third dose of its vaccine to protect people from new variants of COVID-19 , primarily the delta variant , which is rapidly advancing across Europe and threatens to become the dominant strain in question. of one month.
The drugmaker said it will send data on its booster vaccine to the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and other regulators including Europeans in hopes of obtaining emergency use authorization in August. Following the announcement, the FDA and the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) issued a joint statement saying that no reinforcements are needed yet. “Americans who have been fully vaccinated do not need a booster shot at this time,” they stated in the joint statement.
What is known so far is that the delta variant is more contagious , as well as somewhat more difficult to neutralize. According to studies carried out by Pfizer itself, six months after receiving the second dose of the vaccine, the antibodies begin to fall and, therefore, the immunity. However, there is not enough scientific evidence in this regard.
The WHO (World Health Organization), for its part, calls for calm and affirms that it is not yet clear that booster vaccines against COVID-19 are useful to maintain protection against the virus. The agency prefers to prioritize vaccination globally.
The European Medicines Agency (EMA) considers that “there is not enough data from vaccination campaigns and ongoing studies to understand how long the protection of vaccines against the coronavirus will last”. For the institution it is “too early” to speak of the need for a booster dose.
The country that has led the way in vaccination against COVID-19, Israel, will put the third dose of Pfizer. It will do this first in people who have a weakened immune system and are looking to continue with a broader group of the population. According to the Ministry of Health of this country, there is a correlation between people infected with the delta variant and those who were vaccinated first , around January. This indicates a decrease in the effectiveness of the puncture after six months. It is also emphasized that the first to receive the vaccine were the elderly, people whose immune system is weaker. Israel recognizes that the sample of vaccinated people who have been infected with coronavirus is limited.
Despite the infections that have occurred in Israel, the data suggest that the Pfizer vaccine has prevented serious cases of the disease .
