According to the Washington Post, the Biden administration’s announcement will come shortly. The call to better protect the population from the Delta variant and counteract the drop in immunity
The Biden administration will announce, probably this week, the need to administer a third dose of the Covid vaccine to all Americans with the aim of countering the decline in immunity over the months and the Delta variant. The Washington Post reports that the recall will be necessary eight months after the end of the vaccination cycle. The third dose vaccination will not start before the end of September, after the authorization from the Food and Drug Administration which will have to evaluate the safety and efficacy of the booster.
Pfizer’s data on the third dose
Pfizer and BioNTech have announced that they have submitted initial data from their trial to the US Food and Drug Administration (Fda) to support the evaluation of the third dose of Covid vaccine in view of a future authorization of this booster in people aged 16 and over in up. The data in question will also be presented to the European Medicines Agency Ema. Participants in the trial received a 30 microgram booster dose of their vaccine (BNT162b2), 8-9 months after receiving the second dose. After the third dose of Covid vaccine, they are observed significantly higher levels of neutralizing antibodies against early Sars-CoV-2 virus (wild type) and against Beta and Delta variants, compared to the levels observed after the “two-dose” vaccination cycle, the companies disclose. A booster dose of Covid vaccine, given 6 to 12 months after primary vaccination with two doses, could help maintain a high level of protection against disease writes Albert Bourla, president and CEO of Pfizer, posted on Twitter along with today’s announcement.
An important update today. We have submitted initial data to @US_FDA that suggest a third dose of our #COVID19 vaccine within 6 to 12 months after the primary vaccine schedule may help maintain a high level of protection against the disease. (1/2)
– AlbertBourla (@AlbertBourla) August 16, 2021
Who does the third dose
Only last Thursday ago the FDA authorized the third dose (Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna) on immunosuppressed subjects, but now there would be a further step forward, with the involvement of the entire population, even if there is not yet an official announcement. Israel has also begun the administration of the recall for now on over 60s and the same choice, on fragile subjects, has been announced by France, Germany and the United Kingdom starting from September. Other Pasi have already left. The American decision was a notable change of pace from the statements made a few weeks ago, when after the announcement of the efficacy data of the third dose of Pfizer-BioNTech, the FDA and the CDC in a joint note declared that fully vaccinated Americans do not need of a booster dose at this time, emphasizing that it is not up to individual companies to decide if and when a booster will be needed. A similar response came from Ema, the European Medicines Agency.
The reasons for the decision
But the spread of the Delta variant, much more contagious has changed the cards on the table. L’high virus trasmissibilit combined with the fact that, albeit in much lower percentages even vaccinated people can get the infection (the protection against serious illness and death remains very high but lefficacy against infection decreases) andimmunity that is waning in the months (even if the studies are not univocal on the subject) they could have convinced the American government to choose the way of the third dose. Also because the United States is in the midst of an overwhelming fourth wave, with an alarming increase in hospitalizations even among the younger age groups.
The ad hoc vaccine against Delta
According to what the immunologist Anthony Fauci, a consultant to the American President Biden, had declared, the third dose should take place with the same vaccine already used previously, therefore Pfizer or Moderna. There updated version versus Delta variant in fact not yet ready. Pfizer-BioNTech have announced that by August they will start testing a new version of the drug that targets the Delta variant. Moderna is also working on it, however, from unpublished preliminary data, it emerges that those vaccinated with Moderna would have half the chance of becoming infected with Delta compared to those vaccinated with Pfizer: this vaccine would in fact already seem highly effective against the contagious variant at the end of the normal cycle. vaccinal.
August 17, 2021 (change August 17, 2021 | 18:06)
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