Will we have to do the fourth dose of the vaccine? What do we know – RB

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Will we have to do the fourth dose of vaccine? What we know – RB

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Should we have the fourth dose of vaccine? What we know – RB

Will we have to do the fourth dose of vaccine? What we know – RB We have explained the details of the news, step by step, below. Will we have to do the fourth dose of the vaccine? What we know – RB Keep reading our news. Here are all the details on the subject.

Should we have the fourth dose of vaccine? What we know – RB

Omicron is radically changing the pandemic scenario, so much so that, warns the WHO, within 2 months half of $peans will be infected by the new variant . Natural protection in those who have been infected and vaccine protection last for “a few months”, so much so as to “make us ask if there is a need, before the annual recall, of a fourth dose “.

Preliminary results from recently published studies show that the efficacy of asymptomatic disease vaccines is significantly reduced for Omicron, and tends to wear off over time. For severe illness and hospitalization related to the Omicron variant, emerging evidence suggests that vaccines continue to provide high protection.

But the question of a possible fourth dose is posed by Pfizer number one Albert Bourla, who seems to embody the concern of many scientists regarding Omicron: an extremely more contagious mutation of the virus and, as far as we can see, very little lethal in those who is vaccinated.

Omicron sign of the transition from pandemic to endemic?

But beware of talking about Covid’s “cooling” , because the virus is often mild and with flu-like symptoms only for those who have two or three doses of the vaccine. For those who are not immunized, even Omicron can be risky, as the data show.

Not only. Omicron could accelerate the transition from the acute to the endemic phase of the crisis, but caution is needed : the last variant has caught the scientific community by surprise and the situation could repeat itself.

As the virologist Guido Silvestri warned, it is still impossible to predict the future: it could “further refine” the ability to affect only the upper airways, or, in the worst and least likely scenario, “backtrack on the three mutations that make it less usable by the TMPRSS2 enzyme “and therefore” return to being effective in infecting the lung, without losing its increased transmissibility “(here the” spy “symptom identified for Omicron, often the first to appear).

Will we do the fourth dose of vaccine?

Precisely to cope with the surge in infections, many States have decided to administer the third dose at 3 months instead of a 6. In Italy for now the third dose is triggered after at least 4 months from the second or from the recovery from Covid. And the question that more and more Italians are asking themselves is whether at this point we will also have to undergo the fourth dose or not.

Israel is the first country to have started the carpet vaccination with fourth dose , which is now also added to Chile Several countries, including Great Britain and South Korea, are already ordering vaccine doses for the fourth booster. ” Those who received the fourth dose of the Covid vaccine have 5 times more antibodies one week after inoculation “: These are the statements of Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett.

Also Moderna CEO Stephane Bancel said the fourth dose of the vaccine will likely be needed , possibly in Autumn 2022. The efficacy of the third booster dose is destined to decrease over the months, as happened after the 2 doses of the ordinary vaccination course. “I would be surprised to receive data in the coming weeks that the booster dose held well over time. I would expect it to not hold up very well, “admitted Bancel.

We will therefore perhaps need booster doses in the autumn 2022 “and beyond”, explains Bancel, alluding to need for annual reminders for the elderly and the frail . Possible, for some very likely, that Covid will not go away and we will have to live with it, because it will become endemic. With increasing immunity in the population and with Omicron there will be a lot of natural immunity beyond that given by vaccination, and we will reasonably move towards a scenario closer to endemicity.

EMA and WHO hold back on the fourth dose, that’s why

On the fourth dose, however, it is the EMA who pull the brake. “We haven’t seen the fourth dose data yet. We are quite concerned about a strategy that involves repeated vaccinations in a short amount of time. We cannot continue to give booster doses every 3 or 4 months “said Marco Cavaleri, responsible for vaccines of the EMA.

The Omicron variant is highly contagious, resulting in a high number of infected individuals. So it is very important to be aware of the “potential burden” as Cavaleri calls it, which could damage health systems, and not consider it a mild disease.

From Great Britain the data arrives at these very times of the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunization, the London Government Advisory Committee on Vaccines. The fourth dose of the vaccine is not needed for now, he says. The third booster dose guarantees high protection against severe disease caused by the Omicron variant in older people.

3 months after the third dose of vaccine, for the over 65 protection from the risk of hospitalization remains around 90%. The difference with respect to ordinary vaccination is evident: 3 months after the second dose, the protection drops to 70%. At 6 months, it reaches 50%.

In light of these data, the JCVI recommended that the government continue to favor the third dose booster for all adults and to freeze any fillings related to the administration of the fourth dose to the over 80 or guests of the RSA.

Better an ad hoc vaccine against Omicron or a multipurpose one?

The real challenge of the coming months is to understand if it might make sense to have a specific anti-Covid vaccine for Omicron. An anti-Covid vaccine adapted to the Omicron variant would be a “natural candidate” for approval in the EU, but other options such as a polyvalent vaccine cannot be excluded as potential alternatives , says the EMA.

“More data is needed to decide whether an adapted vaccine, with a different composition, is warranted. Many elements need to be kept in mind, knowing that by the time any vaccine adapted to Omicron is developed, it is possible that the epidemiological picture in the EU has undergone a significant evolution, with regard to variants in circulation and exposure to Omicron “.

Pfizer vaccine specific for the Omicron variant will be ready by March , Albert Bourla announced. The company has already begun to produce doses, the CEO explained, adding that the vaccine will also affect other variants in circulation. If Pfizer, as it has announced, develops a vaccine adapted to Omicron by March, a potential approval by the EMA could come as early as April or May .

For the WHO, vaccines against Covid that have a high impact on the prevention of infection and transmission, and not only on the prevention of diseases, are necessary and should be developed severe and death.

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