The Coronavirus is here to stay and may never disappear, which is why vaccines against Covid-19 continue to be developed and the new booster formula, called bivalent vaccine, was recently released because it immunizes against the original strain, also known as Wuhan. , for the Chinese city where the virus appeared, and against the current omicron variant, which is already applied in countries in the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada and the 27 countries of the European Union.
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In such a way that bivalent vaccines are those that protect the body against two types of antigens, unlike the vaccines that were used throughout the world and that are still being applied, considered monovalent, that is, they were designed only against the virus. original.
According to studies, the new bivalent booster vaccines were designed so that the immune system creates antibodies against two different types of the Covid-19 virus in the same application.
So far the only bivalent vaccines against Covid-19 approved for use in humans are the adapted versions of the Pfizer-BioNTech Comirnaty Covid-19 and Moderna Spikevax vaccines.
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The Bivalent Vaccine is only a booster
Considering that the bivalent vaccine is a booster, those who have not been vaccinated with the complete schedule of vaccines against Covid-19 that began to be administered around the world in December 2020, must do so before receiving this additional dose.
With the above it is understood that the new vaccines do not replace the first ones, so what is essential is to complete the initial schedule and then this bivalent booster vaccine from either of the two laboratories that already have approval can be applied.
Almost two years after the vaccination began and due to the predominance of the omicron variant, the laboratories were tasked with designing the updated versions, because the Coronavirus is here to stay and it is expected that the Covid-19 vaccine will end up being annual.
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What are bivalent booster vaccines made of?
Both Moderna and Pfizer developed bivalent vaccines that are already being applied and here we tell you what they are composed of, which are also called updated.
Each dose of the original Pfizer vaccine against Covid-19 contained 30 micrograms of tozinameran, a substance that acts on RNA, in 0.3 milliliters of liquid and now the bivalent version also contains 30 micrograms, although in this case 15 micrograms are designed for the Wuhan strain and the other 15 micrograms for omicron.
For its part, the compound formulated by Moderna, each dose of the monovalent product contained 50 micrograms of elasomeran in 0.5 milliliters that targeted the initial virus, while the updated booster contains 25 micrograms directed at each variant.
The updated Pfizer/BioNTech booster is currently authorized for those over 12 years of age and Moderna’s for those over 18 years of age, both in the United States and the United Kingdom.
It is worth mentioning that the bivalent vaccines authorized in the United States were designed to target the BA.4 and BA.5 lineages of Omicron, although it covers the previous variants. A previous version targeting the BA.1 lineage of Omicron was approved in the United Kingdom.
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What is a bivalent vaccine?
Speaking of the virus that causes Covid-19, a bivalent vaccine includes a component of the original virus strain to provide broad protection against Covid-19 and a component of the omicron variant to provide better protection caused by the omicron variant. . These are called bivalent vaccines against Covid-19 because they contain these two components.
The bivalent vaccine can help protect against severe illness, hospitalization and death from Covid-19. As the virus changes and your immunity naturally wanes over time, you may lose some of that protection. A bivalent vaccine widely used in Latin America is against the human papillomavirus (HPV), which was designed for types HPV-16 and HPV-18.
There are also those considered monovalent, that is, designed only and in this case only against the original Covid-19 virus. The trivalent influenza vaccine (split, inactivated virus) is indicated for active immunization against influenza caused by specific strains of the influenza virus.
The quadrivalent influenza (flu) vaccine has been designed to provide protection against four different types of influenza viruses: two influenza A viruses and two influenza B viruses. While the pentavalent vaccine is given in children and protects against diphtheria, whooping cough, tetanus, type b influence, hepatitis B or polio, depending on its formulation.
Additionally, vaccines can be multivalent, meaning they can be designed for multiple strains or even multiple diseases.
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Countries where the reinforcement of the bivalent vaccine against Covid-19 is already applied
Among some of the countries where the bivalent booster against Covid-19 is already applied are those of the United Kingdom, where it was first done in mid-August with the use of a new formula developed by Moderna for its messenger RNA vaccine.
The United States followed on the last day of August, authorizing the use of the updated vaccines from Moderna and Pfizer/BioNTech, which also uses messenger RNA technology, and a few days later began administering them to the general population.
Later, Canada also approved Moderna’s updated booster against the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus.
Recently, the European Medicines Agency recommended the use of the updated Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine in the 27 countries of the European Union, a decision that must be adopted by the European Commission in the coming days.
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Mexico will not apply bivalent vaccines against Covid-19
While other countries are at the forefront of new booster vaccines to protect their inhabitants, in our country a new vaccination campaign is contemplated this year and will be carried out during the month of October, but so far, the Mexican government has not is considering applying bivalent vaccines.
Hugo López Gatell, Undersecretary of Health, in recent statements said that the government has not yet decided on the brand of vaccines that will be applied, but that the campaign will be aimed at vulnerable groups of the population, such as people over 60 years of age, people with chronic diseases (diabetes, obesity and cancer, among others); pregnant women and pregnant people.
Girls, boys and adolescents will not be considered in the Covid vaccination campaign, this because according to López Gatell, they presented a low risk of complications during the pandemic.
López Gatell commented that the Mexican government is not considering applying bivalent vaccines against this disease because the World Health Organization (WHO) does not make a recommendation to privilege any specific type of vaccines and considers that the originally created vaccines are still effective.
According to López Gatell, it is a commercial aspiration to sell their product, referring to companies that manufacture bivalent vaccines against Covid-19, this to justify that the Mexican government is not going to use these types of biologicals next October.
2023-09-14 03:33:46
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