The World Health Organization has reported that vaccines against COVID They offer immunity for six months after receiving the last dose. That has been the conclusion after reviewing the information and scientific data related to the duration of immunity offered by vaccines against the virus.
“We have reviewed the data that there is and most show that immunity lasts for up to six months“, said the director of the Department of Immunization of the WHO, Kate O’Brien, in a press conference.
The group that advises WHO on immunization issues has issued the conclusions of the data analysis it has carried out in the last two days, although he has indicated that it is too early to pronounce about the new omicron variant and how it responds to vaccines.
The advisory group formally recommended that countries act flexibly when planning the next phases of its vaccination programs to contain the pandemic, which last week alone caused 4.1 million new confirmed infections and 52,000 deaths worldwide.
That flexibility consists of being able to immunize people with the first dose of one vaccine and the second dose of another, allowing countries that do not have vaccine stocks to confront the problem of unpredictable supply.
On the other hand, many countries they have up to four vaccines in their plans immunization against COVID and being able to combine them will prevent some of those stocks from expiring and being lost, O’Brien said. However, experts believe that whenever possible the doses of the same product are granted.
Vaccines that have been authorized by the WHO and most regulators that are considered an international reference offer “robust protection for at least six months against severe forms of the disease, although some decrease (in efficacy) has been observed in front of grave pictures, especially in older adults and people with underlying diseases, “explained the group’s president, Alejandro Cravioto.
For that reason, the instance of scientists indicated that it maintains its recommendation that only booster doses be offered to those vulnerable groups, as well as health workers, in particular if they received inactivated virus vaccines, which corresponds to the technology used in the vaccines of the Chinese pharmaceutical companies Sinovac and Sinopharm.
These vaccines, which are on the WHO emergency use list, have been widely administered in many developing countries, including Latin Americans.
In that case, the health personnel “You must receive the reinforcement as soon as possible”Cravioto noted. Reserving the third doses to the highest risk groups would allow poor countries, where vaccination rates are very low, to receive the vaccines they need, the organization defends.
The EMA is considering advancing the booster dose to three months
The European Medicines Agency has opened the possibility that the countries of the European Union administer a third dose of the vaccine against COVID-19 three months after the last dose.
“While the current recommendation is to administer the boosters preferably after six months, the currently available data supports the administration safe and effective of a booster as soon as three months after its completion“Marco Cavaleri, head of vaccine strategy at the European Medicines Agency, said in a press release.
Likewise, the president has indicated that it will be the public health portfolio of each member state that will influence such decision; furthermore, Cavaleri has been hopeful about vaccinating children, which so far has not carried any risk in the United States.
Two-speed pandemic
Despite the alarm, the World Health Organization (WHO) has recalled that the pandemic now advance at two speeds, the first is that of those vaccinated who, although they can become infected again, will develop, in the vast majority of cases, a moderate condition; and that of the unvaccinated, who represent between 80% and 90% of patients with serious infections, hospitalizations and deaths.
“This should not be interpreted in any way as a lack of efficacy of the vaccines”, has remarked the director of the Department of Immunization of the WHO, Kate O’Brien, who has assured that “as vaccination coverage increases, among the (new) cases there will be a higher proportion that will correspond to vaccinated people “:”It is not surprising that with more people vaccinated we see a greater number of relapses among them“.
O’Brien has stated that “This does not mean that the vaccine does not protect, but that more and more people are vaccinatedWhat is very clear is that the highest risk is for the unvaccinated, so we have a two-speed pandemic, with people who are not vaccinated representing between 80% and 90% of those hospitalized, said the expert in presenting the latest recommendations from the group that advises WHO on immunization issues.
Three doses of Pfizer could neutralize omicron
Preliminary laboratory studies indicate that two doses of the Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine may not provide sufficient protection against the omicron variant of the coronavirus, but three doses are capable of neutralizing it.
Pharmaceutical firms have indicated in a statement than a group of patients who had received two doses of the vaccine against COVID-19 showed an efficacy against the omicron variant 25 times less than against the virus in its previous variant. That “indicates that two doses of the BNTA162B2 vaccine may not be sufficient to protect against infection with the omicron variant“the statement said.
But the preliminary data also indicate that “protection improves with a third dose of our vaccine“said Pfizer Chairman Albert Bourla.
For his part, Ugur Sahin, president of BioNTech, declared that “early data indicate that a third dose could offer a sufficient level of protection against disease in any degree of severity caused by the omicron variant “.
Mario Twitchell is an accomplished author and journalist, known for his insightful and thought-provoking writing on a wide range of topics including general and opinion. He currently works as a writer at 247 news agency, where he has established himself as a respected voice in the industry.
