PFIZER-BIONTECH TO SEEK AUTHORIZATION FOR 3RD COVID SHOT

Fri 09 July 2021:

Pfizer and BioNTech announced Thursday they would seek authorization for a third dose of their Covid-19 vaccine to boost its efficacy, as the Delta variant drove devastating outbreaks in Asia and Africa and cases rose again in Europe and the United States.

With the pandemic once again regaining intensity, Japan banned fans from most Olympic events and placed Tokyo under a virus state of emergency throughout the Games.

The decision comes just two weeks before the opening ceremony.

Delta is the most infectious strain of the virus since the start of the global pandemic in early 2020.

Originally detected in India months ago, it has quickly spread and today is accelerating outbreaks even in countries with high vaccination rates.

This led the World Health Organization to warn that the world was at a “perilous point” as the official global death toll passed four million.

Pfizer and BioNTech said they expect that a third dose will perform well against the Delta strain, and that they will be seeking authorization in the United States, Europe and other regions in coming weeks.

Initial data from an ongoing trial showed a third shot pushed antibody levels five to 10 times higher against the original coronavirus strain and the Beta variant, first found in South Africa, compared to the first two doses alone, according to a statement.

The companies said they expected similar results for Delta — but added they are also developing a Delta-specific vaccine against the strain.

The FDA and US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released a joint statement late Thursday saying authorities were studying “whether or when a booster might be necessary.””Americans who have been fully vaccinated do not need a booster shot at this time,” the agencies said. “We are prepared for booster doses if and when the science demonstrates that they are needed.”

Profit

Some industry experts have warned that profit could be more a motivating factor for drug companies eager to get new vaccines approved by the FDA.

But Pfizer pointed to the situation in Israel: the nation saw a vaccine rollout that was earlier and more effective than in many other countries. Seven months later, however, vaccine effectiveness appears to be waning as the Delta variant spreads and the Israeli government has reinstated an indoor mask mandate.

In the US, the problem remains vaccine hesitancy colliding with the Delta variant, which may be more transmissible and more dangerous. Virtually all of the COVID deaths recorded in the US now are people who did not get any vaccine, and the Delta variant has become the dominant strain of COVID in the country.

The director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Thursday that America is becoming highly fractured: many parts of the country are so well-protected from the virus that COVID deaths have all but vanished. But in pockets of the country, specifically in the South and Midwest, COVID cases have spike so much recently that some hospitals have had to turn patients away and put calls out for extra ventilators.

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