|
|
A recent study found that the fourth COVID-19 vaccine that has already begun to emerge in several countries offers little to no protection from the virus when measured against young and otherwise healthy people who have been vaccinated and boosted.
The study was conducted by researchers at Israel’s Infection Prevention and Control Unit at Sheba Medical Center. Prof. Gili Regev-Yochay, head researcher of the study, said there were 600 participants, including 270 who took the fourth jab of either the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine, The New England Journal of Medicine said.
Regev-Yochay said researchers found no differences, “both in terms of IgG antibody levels and in terms of neutralizing antibody levels, which reached a level similar to that measured a month after the third dose was administered.”
Participants who took the fourth Pfizer booster were 30 percent less likely to come down with the infection and those who took the Moderna jab were about 18 percent less likely to come down with the infection.
Regev-Yochay said the third dose seems to be the important one for those who have yet to come down with the infection.
“The fourth dose is most likely important for populations with risk factors for which a fourth vaccine would protect from serious illness,” she said.
Dr Julian Tang, a clinical virologist at the University of Leicester, said the study seems to suggest that there will be a need to upgrade the first-generation COVID-19 vaccines.
“Ideally, we need new Covid-19 vaccines designed specifically against Omicron if we want to improve this protection for the most vulnerable—in the same way that we update the seasonal flu vaccine each year—to ensure the best possible match against the currently circulating virus strain,” he said.
TRENDPOST: The Trends Journal has been reporting on the new push by drug company CEOs about the importance of taking a fourth COVID-19 jab. (See “PFIZER CEO SELLING ‘GET YOUR FOURTH SHOT” and “MODERNA EXPECTS TO REAP $18.4 BILLION FROM VACCINE SALES.”)
Moderna and Pfizer say they will earn a combined $51 billion in vaccine sales in 2022, despite the drop of infections in many parts of the world. We reported in “DRUG COMPANIES CASHING IN ON COVID” (11 May 2021) that Pfizer considers COVID-19 as providing a “durable revenue stream.”
Pfizer and BioNTech requested authorization from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for a fourth jab on 15 March for those 65 and older, who are considered most vulnerable if infected.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, the White House’s chief medical advisor on COVID-19 and director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, talked about the vaccines and their tendency to lose efficacy over a relatively short time.
“We don’t know when you get to six months, seven months, or eight months after the third dose whether that 78 percent is going to go down to 60 percent, 50 percent, or 40 percent,” he said. “For that reason, you are going to hear serious consideration for giving a fourth boost to the elderly and those with certain underlying health conditions. What we might be seeing in the reasonable future is that individuals, merely on the basis of age, and perhaps some underlying health conditions yet to be determined, would get an immediate boost.”