Michael Kurilla, an infectious disease specialist at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in the United States, remarked that “it is not clear that everyone needs the boost, beyond the small population group that would clearly be at high risk of a disease. serious”.
The vote of the FDA advisory panel is not binding but is generally respected by the agency in making its decisions.
Pfizer also evoked data showing that boosters increase the level of antibodies against the Delta variant.
“The administration of a booster dose allowed Israel to limit severe cases during its fourth wave” of the pandemic, said Sharon Alroy Preis, a senior Israeli health official during the presentation.
The FDA maintains, however, that not all studies are necessarily reliable and estimates that those that result from research in the United States “are likely to more accurately represent the effectiveness of vaccines in the American population.”
Precisely this Friday, a new report from the CDC was known that indicated that Moderna’s vaccine is the most effective in avoiding hospitalization for COVID-19, followed by that of Pfizer and the single-dose of Johnson & Johnson.
Specifically, he pointed out that Moderna’s effectiveness is 93%, Pfizer / BioNTech’s is 88%, and Johnson & Johnson’s is 71%.
According to the researchers, the effectiveness of Pfizer’s vaccine begins to decline more sharply than Moderna’s over time: from the fourth month after its second dose has been administered, it stands at 77%.
Pfizer’s is the only vaccine that is fully approved for use by the FDA, as Moderna and Johnson & Johnson’s have emergency clearance.
With information from AFP and EFE