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- BBC News World
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46 minutes
image source, Reuters
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The coronavirus has not disappeared from the world and probably won’t go away, so some labs have already developed vaccines that match the mutations of the virus.
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The UK was the first to allow the use of a new formula developed by Moderna for its messenger RNA vaccine in mid-August, which was enhanced to combat the omicron lineage in all of its known sub-variants.
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The United States followed suit on the last day of August by authorizing the use of the updated vaccines from Moderna and Pfizer / BioNTech, which also uses messenger RNA technology, and within days began administering them to the general population.
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Canada has therefore approved Moderna’s updated SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus booster.
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At the beginning of September, the UK regulator gave the green light to the updated version of Pfizer / BioNTech and at that time the country started injecting the new doses to people over the age of 50, to those at high risk of any age. , pregnant women and healthcare personnel.
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And more recently, this Monday, the European Medicines Agency recommended the use of the updated Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine in the 27 countries of the European Union, a decision that the European Commission will have to adopt in the coming days.
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What is a bivalent vaccine?
Bivalent vaccines are those that protect the body from two types of antigens.
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In the case of the updated doses against covid-19, they are bivalent because they immunize against the original strain – also known as Wuhan from the Chinese city where the virus appeared – and against the omicron variant.
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The vaccines used up to now in the world were monovalent, that is, designed only against the original virus.
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A bivalent vaccine widely used in Latin America is that against human papillomavirus (HPV), designed for HPV-16 and HPV-18 types.
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vaccinations they can be versatilewhich means they can be designed for multiple strains or even multiple diseases.
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The vaccine pentavalentfor example, it applies to children and protects against diphtheria, pertussis, tetanus, type b infections, hepatitis B or polio, depending on its formulation.
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image source, Reuters / Getty Images
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Both Moderna and Pfizer have developed bivalent vaccines that are applied in the United States and the United Kingdom.
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What are updated vaccines made of?
Each dose of Pfizer’s original covid-19 vaccine contained 30 micrograms of tozinamemer, a substance that acts on RNA, in 0.3 milliliters of liquid.
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The bivalent version also contains 30 micrograms, although in this case there are 15 micrograms for the Wuhan strain and the other 15 micrograms for omicron.
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In the case of Moderna’s formulated compound, each dose of the monovalent product contained 50 micrograms of elasomeran in 0.5 milliliters targeting the initial virus, while the updated booster contains 25 micrograms targeting each variant.
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For now, the updated Pfizer / BioNTech booster is licensed for ages 12 and up, and Moderna’s booster is licensed for ages 18 and up in both the US and UK.
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The bivalent vaccines licensed in the United States were designed to target omicron’s BA.4 and BA.5 lineages, although it covers the earlier variants.
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An earlier version targeting omicron’s BA.1 lineage has been approved in the UK.
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US health officials noted that a annual booster of the anticovid vaccinethe same way you do with the flu shot.
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Do the new vaccines replace the former?
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Covid-19 vaccines began to be administered around the world in December 2020.
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Since, more than 12,000 million doses have been applied by a dozen laboratories.
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Almost two years later and given the predominance of the omicron variant, the laboratories were tasked with designing the updated versions.
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However, these new vaccines do not replace the initial scheme, which was intended only for the Wuhan strain.
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image source, Getty Images
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Authorities predict that the covid vaccine will end up being annual.
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The bivalent vaccine is a booster, so those who have not been vaccinated with the full schedule should do so before receiving this additional dose.
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In the UK it must be at least three months since the last dose, while in the US the minimum period is two months.
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It doesn’t matter which vaccine a person received first; the updated booster may come from one of the two labs that already have approvalsaid drug regulatory bodies.
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What happens in Latin America?
At present, no country in the region has initiated vaccination with the updated versions.
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But in Chile the government is considering a fifth dose of anticovid – it has already given reinforcements of the third and fourth dose – with the bivalent vaccine that will begin to be administered later this year, the minister of health of that country, María Begoña Yarza, told him at the local Tele13 Radio station.
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The Latin American countries that have administered Pfizer / BioNTech vaccines so far are Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru and Uruguay. .
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Moderna’s vaccines, meanwhile, have been administered in Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, El Salvador, Honduras, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay and Peru.
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A spokesperson for the Moderna lab told BBC Mundo that the company has changed supply agreements with Argentina and Peru so that dispensing doses are of the updated formula once regulatory authority approval in each country is obtained.
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BBC Mundo contacted Pfizer to find out about its plans in Latin America, but received no response at the time of this article’s publication.
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