A Blog by Jonathan Low

 

Dec 9, 2020

FDA Reports Pfizer Covid Vaccine Offers Strong Protection After Only 1 Dose

This could eventually be significant because of concerns that the need for two doses and three week wait between them may cause some of those receiving inoculation to forget or simply not get the second dose.

Research reveals the second dose extends and strengthens protection, but it could be that a future interation of the vaccine will only require one for the same level of care. JL

Noah Weiland and Carl Zimmer report in the New York Times:

The coronavirus vaccine made by Pfizer and BioNTech provides strong protection against Covid-19 within 10 days of the first dose. The vaccine worked well regardless of a volunteer’s race, weight or age. Despite the early protection afforded by the first dose, it’s unclear how long that protection would last on its own, underscoring the importance of the second dose. Previous studies have found the second dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine gives the immune system a major, long-term boost

The coronavirus vaccine made by Pfizer and BioNTech provides strong protection against Covid-19 within about 10 days of the first dose, according to documents published on Tuesday by the Food and Drug Administration before a meeting of its vaccine advisory group.

The finding is one of several significant new results featured in the briefing materials, which span 53 pages of data analyses from the agency. Last month, Pfizer and BioNTech announced that their two-dose vaccine had an efficacy rate of 95 percent after two doses administered three weeks apart. The new analyses show that the protection starts kicking in far earlier.

What’s more, the vaccine worked well regardless of a volunteer’s race, weight or age. While the trial did not find any serious adverse events caused by the vaccine, many participants did experience aches, fevers and other side effects.

On Thursday, the F.D.A.’s vaccine advisory panel will discuss these materials in advance of a vote on whether to recommend authorization of Pfizer and BioNTech’s vaccine.

Despite the early protection afforded by the first dose, it’s unclear how long that protection would last on its own, underscoring the importance of the second dose. Previous studies have found that the second dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine gives the immune system a major, long-term boost, an effect seen in many other vaccines.

Many experts have expressed concern that the coronavirus vaccines might protect some people better than others. But the results in the briefing materials indicate no such problem. The vaccine has a high efficacy rate in both men and women, as well as similar rates in white, Black and Latino people. It also worked well in obese people, who carry a greater risk of getting sick with Covid-19.

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