Tag: Pfizer vaccine

Double dose, shorter gap for Pfizer vaccine to be effective against Delta: Lancet

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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A new study in the Lancet journal has found that the Pfizer-BioNTech’s vaccine isn’t as effective against the Delta variant, first detected in India (B.1.617.2), and needs two doses to offer any protection.

The antibody response to the Delta variant is lower in people who have received just one dose and a longer gap between doses may significantly reduce antibodies against this variant, the study said.

Lancet said the Pfizer vaccine produces five times fewer antibodies against the Delta variant compared to those against the original COVID-19 strain. The vaccine produces fewer antibodies with increasing age and the levels decline over time, Lancet says.

Also read: India has to buy time to ensure high coverage of COVID-19 vaccination is achieved: Govt

The Delta variant is now spreading in the UK and early evidence suggests there may be an “increased risk of hospitalisation” with the Delta strain compared to the Alpha and the Lancet study supports the UK’s plans to reduce the gap between the two doses of the vaccine.

According to a report in Live Mint, the Lancet study used the Pfizer–BioNTech vaccine against five COVID-19 strains. The variants used were B.1.617.2 (Delta) and B.1.351 (Beta), first detected in South Africa.

Apart from these two, a strain with the original spike sequence (Wild-type); a strain with an Asp614Gly mutation isolated during the first wave of infection in the UK (D614G); and B.1.1.7 (Alpha) was also investigated.

Also read: Pfizer vaccine approved for 12-15 years age group by UK regulator

What has been found was six (3 percent) and nine (5 percent) of the 159 participants who had agreed to be vaccinated lacked antibodies against the Delta and Beta strains respectively. Though two doses of the Pfizer vaccine were used, the ELISA-detected anti-Wild-type spike antibodies” in all participants, and neutralizing antibodies against all strains, including the three Variant of concerns (VOCs).

The study also compared how efficient is the vaccine between two doses with the benefits of delaying the second dose (like in the UK and India) and increased individual Neutralizing antibodies (NAbTs). Flagging this as an issue, the study has said, the time delay between two doses should be brought down as the Delta strain is now rapidly spreading.

Also read: Explained: What is indemnity? Why foreign and Indian COVID-19 vaccine-makers insisting on it?

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

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Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Pfizer vaccine produces less antibodies against Delta variant of COVID, says Lancet study

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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People fully vaccinated with the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine are likely to have more than five times lower levels of neutralising antibodies against the Delta variant first identified in India compared to the original strain, according to research published in The Lancet journal. The study also shows that levels of these antibodies that are able to recognise and fight the virus are lower with increasing age, and that levels decline over time, providing additional evidence in support of plans to deliver a booster dose to vulnerable people.

It supports current plans in the UK to reduce the dose gap between vaccines since they found that after just one dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, people are less likely to develop antibody levels against the B.1.617.2 variant as high as those seen against the previously dominant B.1.1.7 (Alpha) variant, first found in Kent. The team, led by researchers from the Francis Crick Institute in the UK, noted that levels of antibodies alone do not predict vaccine effectiveness and prospective population studies are also needed. Lower neutralising antibody levels may still be associated with protection against COVID-19, they said.

The study analysed antibodies in the blood of 250 healthy people who received either one or two doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine, up to three months after their first dose. The researchers tested the ability of antibodies to block entry of the virus into cells, so called ‘neutralising antibodies’, against five different variants of SARS-CoV-2.

They then compared concentrations of these neutralising antibodies between all variants. Data from previous clinical studies suggests that higher antibody titres or concentration is a good predictor of vaccine efficacy and greater protection against COVID-19.

The researchers found that in people who had been vaccinated with two doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, levels of neutralising antibodies were more than five times lower against the B.1.617.2 variant when compared to the original strain, upon which current vaccines are based. This antibody response was even lower in people who had only received one dose, they said.

After a single dose of Pfizer-BioNTech, 79 per cent of people had a quantifiable neutralising antibody response against the original strain, but this fell to 50 per cent for B.1.1.7, 32 per cent for B.1.617.2 and 25 per cent for B.1.351 or Beta variant first discovered in South Africa. While antibody levels decreased with age against all variants, no correlation was observed for sex or body mass index (BMI).

“This virus will likely be around for some time to come, so we need to remain agile and vigilant, said Emma Wall, an Infectious Diseases consultant at University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (UCLH). “Our study is designed to be responsive to shifts in the pandemic so that we can quickly provide evidence on changing risk and protection,” Wall said.

The researchers noted that the most important thing is to ensure that vaccine protection remains high enough to keep as many people out of hospital as possible. The study suggests that the best way to do this is to quickly deliver second doses and provide boosters to those whose immunity may not be high enough against these new variants, they said.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

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Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Israel sees probable link between Pfizer vaccine and myocarditis cases

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Israel’s Health Ministry said on Tuesday it found the small number of heart inflammation cases observed mainly in young men who received Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine in Israel were likely linked to their vaccination. Pfizer has said it has not observed a higher rate of the condition, known as myocarditis than would normally be expected in the general population. In Israel, 275 cases of myocarditis were reported between December 2020 and May 2021 among more than 5 million vaccinated people, the ministry said in disclosing the findings of a study it commissioned to examine the matter.

Most patients who experienced heart inflammation spent no more than four days in the hospital and 95 percent of the cases were classified as mild, according to the study, which the ministry said was conducted by three teams of experts.

The study found ”there is a probable link between receiving the second dose (of Pfizer) vaccine and the appearance of myocarditis among men aged 16 to 30,” it said in a statement. According to the findings, such a link was observed more among men aged 16 to 19 than in other age groups.

Pfizer said in a statement that it is aware of the Israeli observations of myocarditis, noting that no causal link to its vaccine has been established.

Adverse events are thoroughly reviewed and Pfizer meets regularly with the Vaccine Safety Department of the Israeli Ministry of Health to review data, it said.

A US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention advisory group last month recommended further study of the possibility of a link between myocarditis and mRNA vaccines, which include those from Pfizer and Moderna Inc.

CDC monitoring systems had not found more cases than would be expected in the population, but the advisory group said in a statement that members felt healthcare providers should be made aware of reports of a ”potential adverse event.”

The Israeli ministry released the statement, which contained no recommendations, ahead of a widely expected decision on whether to begin vaccinating youngsters aged 12 to 15 in Israel. It said a team examining that issue would make its recommendation to the ministry’s director-general, but gave no date.

Israeli media reports said a decision on including the 12-15 age group in the country’s vaccination programme could come as early as Sunday. Israel has been a world leader in its vaccination rollout.

Also Read: Testing of mixed COVID-19 vaccines may start soon in India

With COVID-19 infections down to just a handful a day and total active cases at just 340 across the country, the economy has fully opened, though restrictions remain on incoming tourism.

Some 55 percent of Israel’s population has already been vaccinated. As of Tuesday, restrictions on social distancing and the need for special green vaccination passes to enter certain restaurants and venues were scrapped.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

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Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Will Centre review its liberalised vaccine policy? Experts discuss

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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A broader look at the numbers reveals a bleak picture of the total vaccines administered so far. 78 percent have received only a single dose and 22 percent have received the second dose.

This takes the percentage of fully-vaccinated Indians to just a little over three percent of the population. The liberalised vaccine policy announced by the government in April has become more or less redundant.

According to the policy, vaccine manufacturers are required to give 50 percent of their supply to the central government, and the remaining to states and private players.

However, with supply being a constraint, several states have been compelled to shut down vaccination centres owing to no supply for 18-44 years category. The decision to let Indian states individually buy vaccines from global producers has also hit a wall.

Global vaccine makers like Pfizer and Moderna have clearly conveyed their preference to deal with the Centre as a single entity for procurement of vaccines, rather than deal with each state separately.

Moderna and Pfizer have told the Punjab and Delhi governments that they will deal directly with the centre.

India is the only country where the government has asked states to separately negotiate to buy vaccines, and as of now, there is no significant update on vaccine supply till at least July if not later. The big question now is how will states plan reopening and the lifting of COVID restrictions without clarity on vaccine supply?

To discuss this, CNBC-TV18 spoke to Sanjiv Navangul, MD & CEO of Bharat Serums & Vaccines; Dr V Ravi, Virologist and Member, K’taka COVID Technical Committee; Murali Neelakantan, Principal Lawyer at Amicus and Rajeshwari Hariharan, Founder of Rajeshwari & Associates.

Dr V Ravi said, “It is probably now advisable for the central government to take requirements from each of the states and then float a single global tender. It will have two advantages manufacturers would like to negotiate with one customer rather than with many customers, two the negotiating power for the central government also will be very good.”

He added, “Before we review the policy, we should make an attempt from the central government to see if we can procure vaccines for the country and then distribute it based on the requirements of the states, of course, the money will be paid by the state governments.”

Sanjiv Navangul said, “The transparency that is required to ensure that there is an equitable distribution of vaccines is very important. In a public health scenario where we are dealing with a pandemic, it is important that everybody knows exactly what is happening to the extent possible.”

“Of course we should concentrate on the fact that it is not 18-44 or 44 plus the fact remains that we have to vaccinate 940 million adults at the earliest possible time.”

Murali Neelakantan said, “We already had four reviews of the policy in three weeks, there is no big announcement by the Prime Minister, but there have been changes and very significant changes in the policy in the last one month.”

Watch accompanying video for more.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

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Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

COVID 19: Pfizer likely to sell 50 million vaccine doses to India by Q3

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Pfizer, the United States drug manufacturer, could sell 50 million doses of its COVID vaccine, developed by Germany’s BioNTech to the Indian government by the third quarter of this year.

Currently, the Indian government is in a ‘high-level’ discussion with the pharma giant which is proceeding in a successful direction, reported The Times of India.

Top government officials are believed to have negotiated with senior Pfizer executives over the main hurdle of the firm’s insistence of indemnity that will shield it from any legal action in India.

The nature of agreement on this contentious issue is not clear yet, the report mentioned.

Earlier this year, a study revealed that Pfizer Inc and BioNTech’s COVID-19 vaccine appeared to work against a key mutation in the highly transmissible variants of the coronavirus discovered in the UK and South Africa.

With India battling a new mutant strain of the COVID-19 virus amid the massive second wave of the pandemic, there is a growing demand for expanding the number of vaccines in India.

Currently, only Covishield and Covixin are administered in India, with both the vaccines running into short supply.

Dr Reddy’s, on May 14, administered the first dose of the newly authorised Russian vaccine Sputnik V in India. Dr Reddy’s is producing the Russian vaccine in India and it aims to supply the imported jabs in a week.

An imported dose of the Sputnik V vaccine will cost Rs 995.40 in India, according to Dr Reddy’s Laboratories. Sputnik V has an efficiency of 91.6 percent.

Earlier this week, the United States Food and Drug Administration expanded the emergency use authorisation for the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccine to include adolescents from 12 to 15 years of age.

Apart from Pfizer, Centre had also asked Moderna and Johnson & Johnson to supply COVID-19 vaccines in India.

The government has promised to make over 200 crore doses of COVID-19 vaccines available in India by December.

Follow our live blog for more COVID-19-related updates

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

COVID Helpline: How to safeguard children as experts sound 3rd wave warning? Top doctors answer

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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The COVID-19 pandemic is unrelenting — cases are on the rise, there is a dearth of oxygen supply, health infrastructure is under tremendous pressure and vaccine supply has its own fights. Now, add to this another red flag – the rise in the number of positive cases among children.

As per data from the health ministry, children below 10 years of age accounted for around 3 percent of the total COVID cases in 2021 up to April 21. The same age group had accounted for around 4 percent of total COVID cases in 2020, starting from the onset of the pandemic.

The situation in India has visibly worsened since April, putting more children at risk of getting infected. Earlier this week, the Supreme Court questioned the Centre about its preparedness for a third COVID wave and called for an early vaccination of not just adults but those below 18 as well.

However, as of now, barring Canada, which has issued an emergency approval to a Pfizer vaccine, no other country has given its nod to administering vaccines to kids.

On the special show ‘COVID Helpline’, CNBC-TV18’s Shereen Bhan spoke to Dr V Ravi, Virologist and Member of the Karnataka COVID Technical Advisory Committee; Dr Soonu Udani, Director of Critical Care and Emergency Services at the SRCC Children’s Hospital in Mumbai; Dr Shivakumar Shamarao, Consultant at the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit at Manipal Hospitals; Khushnooma Kapadia, Senior Area Director of Marketing South Asia at Marriott International and discussed the impact of COVID on children, the post-COVID complications, and the safeguards parents should be taking as experts warn of a third wave.

Watch the video for more

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Canada authorises Pfizer COVID vaccine for age 12 and older

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Canada’s health regulator has authorised Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine for ages 12 and older, AP reported today.

Earlier today a NYT report stated that Pfizer was likely to apply to the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in September for emergency authorization to administer its COVID-19 vaccine to children between the ages of 2 and 11. The Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine was the first to get emergency authorization in the United States in December.

The vaccines are now being administered to adults and a full FDA approval would allow the companies to market their vaccines directly to consumers, the NYT report stated in a report earlier.

Earlier this week, Pfizer’s global chairman and CEO in a letter to its India colleagues said that the company was making COVID-19 medicines valued at more than $70 million for India.

The company said it was working closely with the government and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) to get them (the medicines) where they are needed the most.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Pfizer to continue talks with government to make its COVID-19 vaccine available in India

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Drug-maker Pfizer said on April 21 that it would continue to engage with the Indian government to make its vaccine part of the country’s immunisation programme.

According to reports, Pfizer, which has developed a COVID-19 vaccine in partnership with BioNtech has reiterating its commitment to prioritise supporting governments in their immunization programmes. The company will “supply the COVID-19 vaccine only through contracts based on agreements with respective government authorities and with regulatory approval”, Moneycontrol reported.

In February, Pfizer had withdrawn the emergency-use authorisation (EUA) application for its COVID-19 vaccine in India, after failing to meet the Drugs Controller General of India’s (DCGI) demand for a local safety and immunogenicity study.

However, as the government last week waived off the need of submitting local bridge trial data for vaccines approved by the USFDA, European Medicines Agency (EMA), UK MHRA, PMDA Japan or those listed with the WHO under Emergency Use listing, Pfizer has become eligible to directly seek EUA from DCGI to import its COVID-19 vaccine.

India has so far given approval to three coronavirus vaccines — Serum Institute’s Covishield, Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin and Russia’s Sputnik V.

Recently, Pfizer signed a deal with South Africa to supply Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine at $10 per dose. Pfizer’s vaccine, based on genetic material or mRNA, is said to be safe with an efficacy level of 95 percent after the second dose. The vaccine needs to be taken in two full doses, after a 21-day gap.

India reported 2,95,041 new COVID-19 cases and 2,023 deaths in the last 24 hours as of 8 am on April 21.  The Central government has allowed all above the age of 21 to be administered the vaccine from May 1.

As per the new vaccination strategy, the state governments and private hospitals will be procuring vaccines from the open market. Vaccine manufacturers will have to declare their prices in a transparent manner before May 1. Only 50 percent of vaccines will be available in the open market and another 50 percent will be procured by the Central government.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Pfizer to ship 13 million COVID-19 vaccine doses per week to US by mid-March, says executive

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Pfizer Inc expects to deliver more than 13 million doses of its COVID-19 vaccine per week to the United States by the middle of March, more than doubling its shipments from early February, a top Pfizer executive said in prepared testimony ahead of a Tuesday congressional hearing.

Pfizer is on track to deliver 120 million doses of its two-dose regimen by the end of March, said John Young, Pfizer’s chief business officer.

Pfizer is also prepared to provide a total of 300 million shots to the United States by the end of July and has raised global production expectations for 2021 to at least 2 billion doses, he said.

In his own prepared remarks, Moderna Inc President Stephen Hoge said the drugmaker plans to deliver 100 million doses of its two-dose shot by the end of March, and 300 million by the end of July.

Johnson & Johnson believes it will be able to ship at least 20 million doses of its single-dose shot to the United States by the end of March after receiving US regulatory authorization and 100 million doses by mid-year 2021, said Vice President of Medical Affairs Richard Nettles.

The comments were prepared ahead of a US congressional hearing on vaccine availability to be held by the House Committee on Energy and Commerce on Tuesday as the United States crossed the staggering milestone of 500,000 COVID-19 deaths.

The remarks put the United States on track to receive 240 million doses by the end of March, enough to inoculate 130 million Americans and 700 million doses by mid-year.

AstraZeneca Plc, which is running a US trial for its coronavirus vaccine, believes it can quickly adapt its shot to new variants of the virus in its laboratory, said Ruud Dobber, company president, North America.

A highly contagious COVID-19 variant has become prevalent in South Africa and has turned up in several US states.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow