The vaccination campaign continues in France. People over 55 years of age have been able to start making appointments to be immunized and most adults under 50 years of age hope to be soon able to be given their first doses. It is possible that people vaccinated with Pfizer when the campaign debuted be given a third dose of vaccine before younger people might have the chance to get their first injection.
As a matter of fact, this April 15, 2021 Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla explained the population’s immunity to Covid-19 was likely to need regular booster shots. “A likely scenario is that there will be likely a need for a third dose, somewhere between six and 12 months and then from there, there will be an annual revaccination, but all of that needs to be confirmed. And again, the variants will play a key role”, the CEO warned whose sayings have been reported by American CNBC TV channels and Le Monde newspapers. “It is extremely important to suppress the pool of people that can be susceptible to the virus”, he added.
Health authorities currently recommend two doses of Pfizer 42 days apart. According to the most recent studies, the vaccine is 95% effective against the virus. Yet, since some Covid-19 variants seem to resist against vaccines, and coronavirus seems to be a seasonal virus, the Pfizer and BioNTech laboratories launched – from February 2021 – a study to assess the effects of a third dose on variants.
In the United States, a booster shot has been already planned by authorities. Covid cell director Doctor David Kessler told the members of the American Parliament: “We don’t know everything at this moment. We are studying the durability of the antibody response. It seems strong but there is some waning of that and no doubt the variants challenge”.
“So I think for planning purposes, planning purposes only, I think we should expect that we may have to boost”, the doctor added. France might have to rework its vaccination strategy and its vaccine orders to guarantee total immunity to people vaccinated if booster shots are indeed necessary.
