Covid, recall in autumn with adapted vaccine: this is what it means

In the fight against Covid-19, “the pan-coronavirus vaccine is the goal: it will take longer but not too long. In the meantime, we will get to the next booster with an adapted vaccine, with or without the flu virus, in the fall ”. Thus, the director general of the Italian Medicines Agency (Aifa), Nicola Magrini, spoke about what could await us in the coming months. To date, explained Gianni Rezza, Director of Prevention of the Ministry of Health, “we are still using vaccines based on the original virus and which in any case show a high capacity against serious illness. Many companies are developing vaccines that contain Omicron in addition to the Wuhan virus. I believe that during the summer the new adapted vaccines will be subjected to the evaluation of the EMA ”. What does this all mean?

Companies working on an updated vaccine

deepening

As also underlined by the newspaper “La Repubblica”, currently the fourth dose, foreseen in Italy for immunocompromised subjects, for over 80, guests of the Rsa and frailty aged 60 and over, is performed with the 2021 vaccines, or those prepared with the coronavirus originally from Wuhan. None of the manufacturing companies has yet developed a definitive and updated version for the variants of Sars-Cov-2 that have appeared over time, although the vaccines in use are still largely effective in preventing serious disease, while providing little protection. from contagion with Omicron. But if, as anticipated by Magrini, a new round of injections is expected in the autumn, the situation could change. Currently, companies such as Pfizer, Moderna and Novavax, whose anti-Covid vaccines are used in Europe, are working on an updated vaccine, especially with a view to the new variant and its sub-variants. Pfizer and Moderna, in particular, have also already started human trials and the European Medicines Agency (Ema) will evaluate the safety and efficacy data presumably by June. Moment in which it will be better understood whether it is actually necessary to put a new vaccine into production or not. According to Marco Cavaleri, head of the EMA for vaccines and anti Covid drugs, “a possible approval could come in the summer”.

The first evaluations

How, specifically, will vaccines adapt? The RNA sequence, still underlines “La Repubblica”, that is the one that is injected into the body must be modified in some way, to be faithful to that of the Spike protein of the new variant, after it has collected about thirty mutations compared to beginnings of the pandemic. The first data obtained from tests on animals, for now, have not shown a decisive gain in terms of efficacy with the vaccine adapted to Omicron. But although the data on animals are usually faithful to those of our species, experimentation on humans will be needed to have greater certainty. Moderna, as mentioned, is administering a “bivalent” vaccine to volunteer patients, ie containing half the dose of the 2021 vaccine and half of the updated one. For the summer of 2023, among other things, the same company would like to propose a product that contains both Covid and influenza antigens, so as to propose a single vaccine for both infections at once. Pfizer on the other hand is testing only the updated vaccine, with the idea that it will be ready by the summer. Ultimately, it will be up to the regulatory authorities to express themselves to shed light on the issue.