Pfizer seeks approval for a third Covid vaccine dose

New Delhi: On Thursday (July 8), Pfizer said it would seek US approval for a third dose of its Covid-19 vaccine. The Associated Press quoted Pfizer’s Dr. Mikael Dolsten as saying people’s antibodies jump five- to tenfold after a third dose, compared to their Covid-19 vaccine’s second dose.

Pfizer plans to request emergency authorization from the Food and Drug Administration for a third dose in August, according to Dolsten.

The Delta strain believed to have been first identified in India is becoming dominant globally, raising concerns.

In the meantime, it was discovered that a single jab of AstraZeneca, Pfizer ‘barely inhibits’ Delta variant. Researchers from France’s Pasteur Institute reported new evidence in the journal Nature that full vaccination is critical. In laboratory tests, blood from several dozen people given their first dose of the Pfizer or AstraZeneca vaccines “barely inhibited” the Delta variant, the team reported. But weeks after getting their second dose, nearly all had what researchers deemed an immune boost strong enough to neutralize the infection — even if it proved a little less potent than against earlier versions of the virus.

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Another study, conducted in Britain, concluded that two doses of the Pfizer vaccine was 96 percent protective against hospitalization with the Delta variant and 88 percent effective against symptomatic infection. Researchers from Canada also concurred with the study, while a report from Israel suggested protection against mild Delta infection may have dipped lower, to 64 percent.

According to the media, India is expected to receive 3 to 4 million doses of the Pfizer and Moderna Covid-19 vaccine shots through COVAX, led by the GAVI vaccine company and the World Health Organization (WHO). In light of a possible third wave of Covid-19, the government seeks to boost vaccinations.

However, the global Covid-19 death toll has surpassed the grim milestone of 4 million, according to a report from Johns Hopkins University’s Center for Systems Science and Engineering.