Pfizer vaccine, there are news on recall and conservation

Pfizer vaccine

An English study still being published shows that giving the booster after 3 months instead of 21 days might even be worthwhile. In the meantime, Ema changes storage: for a month the vaccine can stay in the refrigerator instead of at -70 ° C

(photo: Gerd Altmann via Pixabay) Timing and methods of vaccination with Pfizer's messenger rna vaccines- BioNTech and Moderna are changing and this is happening because on the basis of scientific data that are gradually updated, more information is acquired that allows for an ever better adaptation and management of the vaccination campaign. Today the second dose, the booster, is done 42 days after the first and no longer after 21. And soon a new variation could arrive for the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, with a further extension up to 3 months of the interval between the first and second administration. In fact, receiving the booster after 3 months instead of 21 days would triple the immune response, according to a study carried out on people over 80 years old. News of the research, conducted by the University of Birmingham and not yet published, can be found on the university's page. The positive news on Pfizer's vaccine is not over yet: the European Medicines Agency (EMA) has given approval for the vaccine to be stored at refrigerator temperatures (instead of -70 ° C) for up to 31 days.

The rules are very precise

In the United Kingdom, since the beginning of the vaccination campaign, the authorities have chosen to delay the recall to cover a greater percentage of the population, especially frail people . Here, as early as January, it was expected that the second dose of Pfizer's vaccine could take place up to 12 weeks after the first. For the other countries of the European Union this is not the case, since the authority that authorizes the vaccine, the EMA, has indicated that the maximum possible range, in which the protection remains the same, has been measured in clinical studies and is 42 days. Any change, including an extension beyond 42 days, requires a change in the authorization of the drug, as Ema clarified some time ago. In other words, it would not be possible to officially extend the time to date.

Pfizer, the English firm: the recall to 3 months?

But the English study, if confirmed, could open the door to new assessments on the timing of vaccination, always following the official rules. In the United Kingdom, thanks to the decision to postpone the recall even beyond 42 days, researchers were able to study the activation of the immune system in the event of a second delayed administration in a clinical trial. According to data on 175 participants over 80 years of age, people who received the booster with Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine after 12 weeks instead of 3 weeks would have 3.5 times higher levels of specific antibodies to Sars-Cov-2. The peak of the response linked to cellular immunity - there are two major types of immunity, that linked to antibodies and that mediated by cells - would instead be lower after the second dose. However, the authors write in the note that even in the face of this decline, the responses between those who received the booster before and those after would be comparable if measured at the same time, after a certain interval from the first dose. For these reasons, the authors write that an extension to 12 weeks "could increase and prolong the immunity linked to antibodies, which is believed to be important [understood as the main of the two immunities ed] in the neutralization of the virus and in the prevention of 'infection'. We await the publication of the study in order to have all the data.

Ema changes storage methods

A further simplification, which also cuts costs, has already taken place. The EMA's Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP) has given an authorization that changes the rules of conservation of Pfizer-BioNTech's vaccine. The vial already thawed (from about -70 ° C) and still unopened can be stored at temperatures from 2 to 8 ° C (i.e. in a normal refrigerator) for a period of one month. Previously, the standard provided that the passage in the refrigerator after defrosting lasted only five days.


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Coronavirus United Kingdom Modern Vaccine Pfizer BioNTech vaccine globalData.fldTopic = "Coronavirus, UK, Modern Vaccine, Pfizer BioNTech Vaccine "

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