Pfizer to seek OK for 3rd vaccine dose, shots still protect

Pfizer is about to seek US authorisation for a third dose of its COVID-19 vaccine, saying Thursday that another shot within 12 months could dramatically boost immunity and maybe help ward off the latest worrisome coronavirus mutant.

Research from multiple countries shows the Pfizer shot and other widely used COVID-19 vaccines offer strong protection against the highly contagious delta variant, which is spreading rapidly around the world and now accounts for most new US infections.

Two doses of most vaccines are critical to developing high levels of virus-fighting antibodies against all versions of the coronavirus, not just the delta variant -- and most of the world still is desperate to get those initial protective doses as the pandemic continues to rage.

But antibodies naturally wane over time, so studies also are underway to tell if and when boosters might be needed.

On Thursday, Pfizer's Dr Mikael Dolsten told The Associated Press that early data from the company's booster study suggests people's antibody levels jump five- to 10-fold after a third dose, compared to their second dose months earlier.

In August, Pfizer plans to ask the Food and Drug Administration for emergency authorisation of a third dose, he said.

Why might that matter for fighting the delta variant? Dolsten pointed to data from Britain and Israel showing the Pfizer vaccine “neutralises the delta variant very well.”

The assumption, he said, is that when antibodies drop low enough, the delta virus eventually could cause a mild infection before the immune system kicks back in.

But FDA authorisation would be just a first step -- it wouldn't automatically mean Americans get offered boosters, cautioned Dr William Schaffner, a vaccine expert at Vanderbilt University Medical Center.

Public health authorities would have to decide if they're really needed, especially since millions of people have no protection.

“The vaccines were designed to keep us out of the hospital” and continue to do so despite the more contagious delta variant, he said.

Giving another dose would be “a huge effort while we are at the moment striving to get people the first dose.”

Currently, only about 48% of the US population is fully vaccinated — and some parts of the country have far lower immunisation rates, places where the delta variant is surging.

On Thursday, Dr Rochelle Walensky, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said that's leading to “two truths” — highly immunised swaths of America are getting back to normal while hospitalisations are rising in other places.

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