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Many people have been wondering whether the available COVID-19 vaccines will provide durable protection against the coronavirus disease. Others have been asking whether people need to be revaccinated against COVID-19 yearly. Anyway, people get revaccinated against influenza every year.
The CEO of Pfizer, Albert Bourla, tried to answer these people. In a live Facebook event with CVS health, Bourla said that people likely need a booster shot after receiving the two shots of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine. Doing this will effectively reduce the number of people susceptible to coronavirus disease. He said that medics should administer this booster dose to people 6 to 12 months after getting vaccinated. After this, the medics will need to revaccinate these people every year. Bourla also added that the revaccination would depend on the coronavirus variants that will emerge. Anyway, the vaccine should deal with contagious coronavirus variants such as the South African and U.K. coronavirus strains.
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The Pfizer-BioNTech CEO also added that Pfizer-BioNTech is doing more research on the durability of the available vaccines. This research will help this corporation determine the most effective immunological response to COVID-19. He further added that neutralizing antibodies can only persist for some time after a person is fully vaccinated with the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine.
Bourla said this after Pfizer biotech researched how well the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine can protect people against COVID-19. The research involved 12,000 participants. The research results indicated that this vaccine is 95% effective against severe COVID-19 and 91.3% effective against mild COVID-19. The results also indicated that this vaccine is likely to protect people up to at least six months after being fully vaccinated.
David Kessler, the U.S. Covid-19 response chief officer, has also supported what Bourla said. In a meeting with U.S. lawmakers, Kessler said that Americans are likely to be given booster shots to protect them against the emerging coronavirus variants. He also made it clear that the existing vaccines are effective but are likely to get less effective with time due to the emerging coronavirus variants. However, he said that this information is not yet approved and researchers are doing more research to determine whether these booster shots are needed.
Why Are People Likely To Get COVID-19 Revaccination Annually
According to Bourla, SARS-CoV-2 mutations are similar to influenza virus mutations and somehow different from poliovirus mutations. As we all know, the polio vaccine is administered in the form of two to four doses that offer lifelong protection. On the flip side, people are revaccinated against influenza yearly. This revaccination is done to protect people against the wild-type influenza strain and other influenza variants. Since SARS-CoV-2 and influenza virus are mutating similarly, the COVID-19 vaccine should be administered similarly to influenza vaccines.
What Is the Progress In Developing COVID-19 Vaccine Booster Shots
Earlier, Bourla had said that the Pfizer-BioNTech’s vaccine would offer high protection against COVID-19. Since the effectiveness of a vaccine reduces over time, Pfizer-BioNTech has to check its effectiveness continuously. Currently, the Pfizer-BioNTech is carrying out tests on a third dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine. These tests will help this corporation understand how its vaccine is responding to various coronavirus variants.
Moderna is also taking part in fighting the emerging coronavirus variants. In late March 2021, Moderna presented its new vaccine to the National Institutes of Health. The N .I .H has already started carrying out tests to determine this new COVID-19 vaccine’s effectiveness against the South African COVID-19 variant. According to Stephane Bancel, the Moderna CEO, the new Moderna vaccine is likely to be made available in the fall.
