The peak of the seventh wave has pretty much passed, we are in the middle of low summer in August…everything is ready for the Covid-19 vaccination rate to tell the time. Only 55,000 doses are given each day, the vast majority of second booster doses, half of what they were in mid-July.
The pace could pick up again at the start of the school year. The arrival of a possible eighth wave may encourage a certain number of the population to arrive again. In addition, the SHA could recommend a new booster dose for vulnerable people, or even expand the target to adults without comorbidities. In particular, everything will depend on available vaccines, which are potentially more effective – especially against infections – than those containing messenger RNA (Pfizer/BioNTech or Moderna) currently in use. Four new products are expected in September or October by the Ministry of Health, the last indicated on July 20. here they are.
Hyper
- Technology: Recombinant protein vaccine.
- Variants of which it is made: Alpha and beta.
- Efficiency: In a press release published on July 19, the Spanish company confirmed that “an increase in neutralizing antibodies against Omicron BA.2, BA.4 and BA.5 was observed 14 days after administration of the vaccine as a booster dose in participants previously vaccinated with two doses of the vaccine.” Pfizer / BioNTech or Moderna We do not yet have more accurate efficacy rates, both against infections and against dangerous forms.
- progress: The European Commission announced on Tuesday that it had signed an agreement allowing it to obtain up to 250,000 doses of the vaccine being developed by the Spanish company. But you must first obtain a license from the European Medicines Agency (EMA). The Hipra vaccine is still subject to a rolling review procedure, i.e. the available data are analyzed in real time, without waiting for a marketing authorization to be submitted.
Sanofi
- Technology: Recombinant protein vaccine.
- Variants of which it is made: The original virus strain and the beta variant.
- Efficiency: In a press release published on June 24, the French group reported that a booster dose of its vaccine proved to be 72% effective (confidence interval between 45.8 and 86.6%) against forms seen with the Omicron variant. In people who have already contracted Covid and thus also benefit from so-called ‘natural’ immunity, this protection rises to 93.2% (confidence interval between 73.2% and 99.2%). This study did not focus on the BA.5 substrain of the Omicron variant, which is now the majority in France, but the efficacy of current vaccines appears to be similar against every member of the Omicron family.
- progress: While its vaccine (developed with British manufacturer GSK) has been under continuous review since July 2021, more than a year ago, Sanofi filed a market marketing authorization application with the EMA last March.
Pfizer / BioNTech adapts Omicron
- Technology: RNA messenger vaccine.
- Variants of which it is made: The original virus strain and the Omicron variant (BA.1 initially).
- Efficiency: This so-called “modified” vaccine resulted in “significantly higher neutralizing antibody responses against Omicron BA.1” than the currently used vaccine, according to a Pfizer press release on June 25. On the other hand, the effect is less against BA.5 than against BA.1, with the antibody titer being three times lower. “This shortens the duration of protection compared to what it would be if the virus were no longer evolving,” medical biologist Claude Alexandre Gustave recently revealed. The US Federal Drug Agency (FDA) has also required messenger RNA manufacturers to develop versions adapted to BA.5 and its “little brother” BA.4, in order to improve performance.
- progress: Pfizer and its partner BioNTech announced on July 19 that they had transferred their data to the EMA. Three days later, she announced that she had begun her evaluation.
Moderna has adapted to Omicron
- Technology: RNA messenger vaccine.
- Variants of which it is made: The original virus strain and the Omicron variant BA.1 or BA.4/5.
- Efficiency: Among participants who had not previously contracted Covid, the vaccine adapted to Omicron BA.1 “significantly increased neutralizing titers against BA.4/5 compared to (the one) currently authorized,” Moderna advances in a press release. Published. July 11. A month later, these were almost twice as high. Furthermore, this new vaccine is “generally well tolerated,” with no more side effects than the current vaccine. For the other bivalent vaccine, based on the original strain of the virus and this time on the Omicron BA.5 variant, data are not yet available.
- progress: Like the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccines, Moderna’s adapted vaccines have been officially evaluated by the EMA since July 22.
#Covid19 #vaccines #expected #fall
