Booster vaccines may be needed for ‘years to come’, says Pfizer
pharmafile | December 8, 2021 | News story | Research and Development |
Ben Osborn, country manager for Pfizer in the UK, has shared that coronavirus booster jabs will likely be necessary “for a number of years to come”, though it is not yet clear whether the vaccines will be needed annually, or every six months.
Regarding the Omicron variant, Osborn shared, “We’re all waiting for various data to come out, not just from Pfizer and BioNTech, but from governments and healthcare systems around the world.” The variant has now been reported in 57 nations, and WHO has warned that the number of patients requiring hospitalisation is likely to rise as the mutation spreads.
“Even if the severity is equal or potentially even lower than for Delta variant, it is expected that hospitalisations will increase if more people become infected and that there will be a time lag between an increase in the incidence of cases and an increase in the incidence of deaths,” the organisation shared.
“I think it’s difficult to say, in terms of many years, because none of us can predict how the virus will evolve over time,” Osborn stated, when asked how long people should expect to need booster vaccinations against coronavirus. “I think what the science and data are now showing us, though, is that we are likely to need some level of boosting across our adult population for a number of years to come yet.”
The statements arrive alongside new data from a small study, yet to be peer-reviewed, revealing the efficacy of the Pfizer vaccine against the Omicron variant. Results suggest a large drop in neutralisation of Omicron by the vaccine relative to the original virus. However, antibodies produced by the vaccine retained some protection against the strain, and a booster dose may counter the lower immunity against Omicron.
Ana Ovey
