A third needle against COVID-19 will have to be inserted in the winter, immunologists warned.Labor“.
There are two reasons, the first being the expectation of a decrease in the antibodies produced, and thus a decrease in the achieved immunity. The second reason is the mutations of the virus, the number of which is constantly growing.
“Everyone is likely to have to be vaccinated against COVID-19 again next year,” said German virologist Thomas Mertens, who heads the permanent vaccination commission at the Robert Koch Institute in Berlin.
“There is still not enough data to say exactly when a booster dose will be needed, and authorities will have to wait several months to see if protection against coronavirus weakens over time in some groups,” Mertens said.
“The virus will not leave us,” the expert said, stressing that the current vaccination campaign will not be the last.
“In principle, we need to prepare for the likelihood that everyone will have to ‘refresh’ their vaccination protection next year,” Mertens said.
His comment comes a month after Pfizer CEO Albert Burla said that people would probably need to get a third dose of coronavirus vaccine 12 months after the second, and that an annual revaccination would then be needed because of the virus mutations.
Immunologist Acad. Bogdan Petrunov explained to Trud that we will most likely have to be vaccinated against COVID-19 every year, just as we are vaccinated against influenza.
According to him, the reason is many mutations, due to which vaccines will have to adapt. “Both Pfizer and Moderna are preparing a third dose. It is still unknown whether it will be with the same composition or will be enriched with the new versions “, said Petrunov.
The head of “Pirogov” Prof. Asen Baltov also confirmed that a third dose will certainly be needed. He advised people to choose vaccines with 2 doses for now.
“The effectiveness of a single-dose vaccine is lower than that of RNA vaccines,” warned Prof. Baltov. He explained that the survivors should think about vaccination after about 5-6 months. And those who have already been vaccinated with 2 doses, after about 1 year should consider a third dose.
Assoc. Prof. Lyubomira Nikolaeva-Glomb, Head of the Virology Department at NCIPD: No cases of complete resistance have been described
The question of a possible third vaccination is being considered in view of whether the immune response is slightly less effective during illness or after vaccination.
In no case can we consider the coronavirus as the flu virus, because these are different viruses. These are different viral families and they are much more different than we are from the trees we see through the window.
The viral family of coronaviruses is made up of so-called positive RNA, and the viral material of influenza viruses is made up of so-called negative, segmented RNA. They are so different that the fact that they have a similar clinical picture should in no way confuse us.
The flu virus needs constant vaccinations because it is changing and that is why the WHO is making predictions about what the flu virus will be in the coming season.
Antibodies from those who have been vaccinated and not vaccinated may not neutralize SARS-CoV-2 to the same extent, but no cases of complete resistance have been reported to date.
Radostina Alexandrova, virologist BAS: We are working on pancoronavirus vaccines
Whether a third dose of vaccine will be needed depends on the overall development of the pandemic process. It depends on the mutations in the virus, on our immune response, so we still can’t say for sure what exactly will happen.
But companies are currently working on updating their vaccines, which is absolutely natural and expected, as we cannot allow ourselves to be surprised by the virus again.
The update goes in the direction of the new vaccines to meet the options that have emerged in recent months.
The other thing that is being done are the so-called pancoronavirus vaccines, in which, with the help of artificial intelligence, ie with the help of computer modeling, it is predicted what possible mutations could occur and complicate our immune response. The idea is to create vaccines in the future that will give us more protection.
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