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Will a specific vaccine against Omicron be useful?

2 years ago babelfish

Will a specific vaccine against Omicron be useful?

Pfizer and BioNTech will begin testing a specific Omicron vaccine. Here's what the latest studies, experts and Pfizer say

Pfizer has announced that it will begin testing a specific Omicron vaccine, but some experts wonder if it's worth it as cases attributed to the variant are generally less severe and the next mutation may be completely different.

WHAT PFIZER AND BIONTECH ARE DOING

Pfizer and its partner BioNTech have begun recruiting for a clinical trial to test the immune response of the specific vaccine against Omicron.

The trial, Pfizer said, will involve 1,420 volunteers aged between 18 and 55: 615 people who received two doses of the current Pfizer vaccine 3-6 months ago will receive one or two doses of the updated one; 600 who, on the other hand, have already been given three doses 3-6 months ago will receive a fourth of the current vaccine or the new version; and finally, 205 unvaccinated volunteers will be given three doses of the anti Omicron vaccine.

The full results of the study, however, will take several months as volunteers will be given more doses and researchers will need to measure how long the antibodies remain at a high level.

BUT WILL IT BE USEFUL?

However, in many countries it is believed that the peak of cases due to the variant has already been reached or is near and consequently cases are expected to decrease from now on.

There are also studies showing that the vaccines available – especially if aided by the booster dose – still offer good protection against both serious diseases and the risk of death.

Also, experts say, it is not possible to predict what the next variant will look like, but it could be completely different and able to escape even the updated vaccine.

THE LATEST STUDIES ON OMICRON

In support of the dilemma of whether or not a specific vaccine for Omicron is useful come some studies conducted in South Africa, Great Britain and the United States, which state that infections due to the variant cause in most cases less serious diseases thanks to the antibodies produced in following vaccination or recovery from Covid.

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) observed, in fact, that during this last wave 13% of hospitalized patients needed intensive care, while during the two previous waves it was 18%.

WHAT PFIZER SAYS

"While research and data show that recalls continue to provide a high level of protection against serious illness and hospitalization, we think we need to be prepared in the event that this protection decreases over time or new variants are faced . " said Kathrin U. Jansen, senior vice president and head of vaccine research and development at Pfizer.

“Vaccines continue to offer strong protection against Omicron's serious illness. However, emerging data indicate that vaccine-induced protection against mild to moderate infection and disease decreases more rapidly than seen with previous strains, ”added Professor Ugur Sahin, CEO and co-founder of BioNTech. "This study is part of our scientific approach to develop a variant-based vaccine that achieves a level of protection against Omicron similar to that achieved with previous variants, but with protection that lasts longer."

Pfizer and BioNTech, which in recent months had estimated to produce 4 billion doses of the vaccine in 2022, yesterday announced that the quantity should not change even if an updated version is needed.

This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/sanita/sara-utile-un-vaccino-specifico-contro-omicron/ on Wed, 26 Jan 2022 09:13:43 +0000.