Covid-19 vaccine protection wane over time, boosters important: Pfizer, Moderna

US drug makers Pfizer and Moderna have in different studies claimed that protection from their mRNA vaccine against Covid19 can last only for about six months or a little more pitching a strong case for booster shots ignoring the calls against it by a slew of scientistsOn Wednesday Moderna in a new analysis from its phase three study showed that a low dose of the Moderna vaccine lasts for at least six monthsThe findings showed that the incidence of breakthrough Covid19 cases was less frequent in participants who were more recently inoculated indicating that immunity for people vaccinated earlier had started to waneAlso Read UK expert panel recommends Covid19 booster jabs for over 50sOut of 11431 people vaccinated between December and March 88 were identified as breakthrough cases compared with 162 breakthrough cases out of 14746 trial participants vaccinated in July through October of last year the company said in a releaseThe increased risk of breakthrough infections in participants who were vaccinated last year compared to more recently illustrates the impact of waning immunity and supports the need for a booster to maintain high levels of protection Moderna CEO Stephane Bancel said in a statementSimilarly on Wednesday Pfizer cited Israel data to make a case to the US Food and Drug Administration for boosters The US drug giant argued that a third dose of the Covid19 vaccine six months after a second shot restores protection from infection to 95 per cent CNBC reportedWhile the effectiveness of the mRNA vaccine wanes over time a booster shot was shown to elicit an immune response similar to the protection generated after a second dose Pfizer said in a 52page presentation submitted to the US FDAWhile many countries like Israel the UAE Russia France Germany and Italy have proceeded with the booster doses many scientists have called against the third Covid19 shotLast week AstraZeneca CEO Pascal Soriot wrote in the Telegraph that a third dose of vaccines against Covid19 may not be needed for everyoneHe stated that the decision to jab the entire population must be based on real world clinical effectiveness data not simply antibody measurementsIn a recent review published in The Lancet an international group of scientists argued that vaccine efficacy against severe Covid is so high even for the Delta variant that booster doses for the general population are not appropriate at this stage in the pandemicThey reiterated the concern put forth by the World Health OrganiSation about vaccine inequality by the rich countries The WHO has meanwhile called for an extension of a global moratorium on Covid19 booster doses with an aim to enable every country to vaccinate at least 40 per cent of its populationThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever