The US giant Pfizer and the “rival” Moderna say that, if necessary, they will be able to provide an antidote adapted to the new mutation of Sars-Cov-2
It is a race against time. And against the constant mutations that Sars-Cov-2 unfortunately manages to churn out. On the vaccine front, drug multinationals are engaged in developing increasingly targeted countermeasures. Today, the US giant Pfizer announced that in case of need it will be able to provide a vaccine adapted to the Omicron variant of Covid in the spring. He says it in an interview with the Swiss newspaper “Blick” Sabine Bruckner, head of Pfizer in the Swiss country. “We still don’t know if this vaccine will be needed,” notes Bruckner. Pfizer is therefore working on two fronts at the same time, explains the manager. On the one hand it is studying to what extent the current serum is effective against the new variants, on the other hand it is developing modifications in case it becomes necessary to adapt it.
How much antibodies increase
Because, at the moment, the studies produced show that the “booster” dose of the Pfizer vaccine is registered a 25-fold increase in antibody levels compared to those found three weeks after the second dose and the ability to neutralize Omicron is maintained, albeit with lower levels than those against Delta. However, it remains to be understood what the real duration of the coverage is. In Israel, among the first countries to start with the “booster”, Pfizer’s preliminary data not yet published would already indicate a decline in antibodies three months after the third dose. «The mRna methodology certainly speeds up this update of the composition. It is clear that tests must also be carried out, as is the case with any other vaccine, ”he says Fabrizio Pregliasco. virologist at the University of Milan and medical director of Irccs Galeazzi in Milan.
The most likely timing
Modern too announced that if a new vaccine against the Omicron variant is needed, it will be able to “produce it on a large scale by the beginning of 2022”. Whether one of the two companies in the running can make it by next spring, however, remains to be seen. Between clinical trials and approval procedures by regulatory bodies, it seems more realistic to think that the new vaccine will be ready for use no earlier than June.
December 28, 2021 (change December 28, 2021 | 20:41)
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