Pfizer and BioNTech fizer-BioNTech have announced that they have begun recruiting for a clinical trial that aims to test the safety and immune response of their vaccine specifically against the Omicron variant in adults up to 55 years of age.
“We recognize the importance of being prepared in the event that vaccine protection declines over time and to help address Omicron and any other future variants,” said Pfizer’s vaccine manager. Catherine Jansen.
For the CEO of BioNtech Ugur Sahin initial vaccine protection against mild to moderate forms of Covid appears to decline more rapidly against Omicron. “The current study kicks off as part of our scientific approach to develop variant vaccines that achieve a similar level of protection to previous variants but with a longer duration of protection.”
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Pfizer said the study did not include people over the age of 55 because the goal is to examine the participants’ immune response and not the vaccine‘s effectiveness.
The volunteers are divided into three groups: the first includes individuals who have received two doses of Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine 90 to 180 days earlier and who will receive one or two inoculations of the new vaccine.
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The second group includes people who have received the third dose, at the same scheduled time, and who will be given both a new dose of the initial vaccine and a dose of the vaccine created against Omicron. The third group will be composed of people who have not received any vaccine against Covid and who will be injected with three doses of the specific one against Omicron.
The initial vaccine developed by Pfizer-BioNTech was the first to be authorized in Western countries in December 2020, the statement recalls. It is based on the mRna messenger technology that allows it to be easily modified and updated according to the evolution of the virus’ mutations. Numerous countries have begun to see a decline in cases due to the wave of Omicron, the variant with the highest transmissibility so far, although global cases are on the rise.
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