William 'Bill' Shakespeare, one of the first people in the U.K. to receive Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine upon its emergency approval, has died of a stroke, the country's National Health Service confirmed to the BBC.
According to local politician Jayne Innes, Shakespeare died last week.
"Greatly saddened and upset to hear our friend, the very lovely Bill Shakespeare, has passed away," Innes tweeted, according to USA Today. "Bill will be remembered for many things, including a taste for mischief. He became an international sensation as the first man to receive a COVID vaccine."
Shakespeare, 81, was the second person to get a Pfizer shot in England on Dec. 8. He was second in line at University Hospital in Coventry, England on Dec. 8 when vaccine distribution opened to the general public. According to the BBC, Shakespeare was a patient in the hospital's "frailty ward" at the time of his vaccination.
A few days after England began public vaccinations, the U.S. formally approved the Pfizer vaccine for emergency use.
"It could make a difference to our lives from now on, couldn't it?" Shakespeare said at the time, according to CBS News. "It's started changing our lives and our lifestyle."
Following his vaccination, Shakespeare's famous name prompted the New York Post to run the headline "TAMING OF THE FLU" a play on the famous Shakespeare play "The Taming of the Shrew."
According to the BBC, Shakespeare leaves behind his wife of 53 years, two sons and several grandchildren.
Gov. Tom Wolf announced Wednesday that 70% of adults in Pennsylvania have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine.That is based on the latest numbers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.Pennsylvania is the tenth state in the nation to reach this goal."Today we hit a significant milestone in our fight against the COVID-19 pandemic," Wolf said in a news release. "Since the beginning of the pandemic, Pennsylvanians have come together to keep themselves and their loved ones healthy and safe. This selflessness is now reflected in vaccination rates throughout the commonwealth. The vaccines are our best defense against this deadly virus. The light is shining bright at the end of this tunnel, but we must continue to stay the course. I encourage everyone to show up for their second vaccine appointment and take pride in doing your part to help protect individuals who are unable to get vaccinated."To date, 52.7% of the 18 and older population are fully vaccinated.Wolf said 70% of adults need to be fully vaccinated before the mask mandate is lifted.
Gov. Tom Wolf announced Wednesday that 70% of adults in Pennsylvania have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine.
That is based on the latest numbers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Pennsylvania is the tenth state in the nation to reach this goal.
"Today we hit a significant milestone in our fight against the COVID-19 pandemic," Wolf said in a news release. "Since the beginning of the pandemic, Pennsylvanians have come together to keep themselves and their loved ones healthy and safe. This selflessness is now reflected in vaccination rates throughout the commonwealth. The vaccines are our best defense against this deadly virus. The light is shining bright at the end of this tunnel, but we must continue to stay the course. I encourage everyone to show up for their second vaccine appointment and take pride in doing your part to help protect individuals who are unable to get vaccinated."
To date, 52.7% of the 18 and older population are fully vaccinated.
Wolf said 70% of adults need to be fully vaccinated before the mask mandate is lifted.
Myocarditis is inflammation of the heart muscle itself, Tolat explained, as opposed to the lining of the heart. When triggered by a virus, as is typical, the inflammation can affect patients of any age. Mild cases typically involve chest pain potentially alongside shortness of breath or irregular heart beat and patients typically fully recover, Tolat said.
Why is there a delay between the first and secondjabs?
Regulators have said the key to success will be to administer two full doses between four to 12 weeks apart, in order to give as many people the initial dose of the vaccine as possible, which offers some protection from the virus.
However, the rollout of second doses has been accelerated for over-50sfollowing concerns about the spread of the Indian variant.
Astudy found a single dose of the Oxford vaccine was 76 per cent effective in fending off infection between 22 days and 90 days post-injection, rising to 82.4 per cent after a second dose at that stage. Researchers involved in the trial said the findingssupportthedecision made by the UK to extend the interval between initial doses and booster doses of the shot to 12 weeks.
While a different studyfound that a single dose of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine provided a "very high" level of protection from Covid-19 after just 21 days, without the need for a second "top-up" vaccination.
The UEA study, which has not yet been peer reviewed, looked at data from Israel where the vaccine has been rolled out. Scientists found the vaccine becomes 90 per cent effective after 21 days - supporting UK plans to delay the timing of a second jab.
Those who hadreceived the Pfizer jabwere 49 per cent less likely to transmit the virus to others in their households, while transmission fell by 38 per cent for those given the AstraZeneca vaccine.
According to data released on May 20 by PHE, afortnight after the first dose of the Pfizer or AstraZeneca vaccine, the chance of getting symptomatic Covid fell by nearly 60 per cent, with a second dose bringing this up to 90 per cent.
The PHE data examined cases of coronavirus among those aged 65 and over, who were in the first groups to get vaccinated.
While it is not yet known how long immunity lasts beyond 21 days without a second dose, researchers believe it is "unlikely" to majorly decline during the following nine weeks.
Read more:From transmission to efficacy, the Oxford, Pfizer and other Covid vaccines compared
The NHS will contact you when you are eligible for the vaccine and you will be invited to make an appointment.
If you are registered to a GP, you will be contacted by your surgery either over the phone, by text,email orpost, in order to book in to receive a vaccineat your local vaccination centre.
You can still register at a GP surgery if you are not already registered to one, and it is advised that you make sure that your contact details are up to date to ensure that there are no delays.
However, if you are over 50 and have still not taken up an offerof the vaccine, the government urges you to contact your GP.
Alternatively, you can check whether you are eligible and find an appointment by using the NHS vaccination booking service.
Health SecretaryMattHancock said there would be three modes of delivery,withhospitalsand mass vaccination centres along with pharmacists and GPs offering the jab.
In total, 250active hospital sites, 89vaccination centres, andaround 1,600local vaccination sites -including mosques, museums and rugby grounds, as well as pharmacies have been set up to ensureevery at-risk person has easy access to a vaccination centre, regardless of where they live.
Sites across the country, including the ExCel in London, Etihad Tennis Centre in Manchester and Epsom Downs Racecourse in Surrey,have beentransformedinto vaccine hubs and have been administering vaccines fromJanuary 25.
The Prime Minister has also announced the formation ofan 'antivirals taskforce', which will be launched with the aim of developingatleast two effective treatments for Covidby the end of the year.
The emergence of new Covid-19 strains, such as theSouth African, Indian andBrazilian variants, have threatened to undermine the vaccine and testing gains of recent months.
Butvaccines appear to prevent 97 per cent of infections with the Indian variant, real world data suggests, with no known cases of death among those fully vaccinated in the UK.
TheIndian varianthas spread three times faster than other imported strains, Public Health England figures showed on May 12, and is nowdominant in several Covid-19 hotspotsin the North West of England.
The strain was escalated to a "variant of concern" by PHEon May 7,based on evidence which suggests it is at least as transmissible as a strain known as the Kent variant.
Bolton, where the so-calledIndian variant has been identified, has the highest rate of new Covid-19 cases in the UK. A total of 1,300 new cases recorded in the seven days to May 21 - the equivalent of 452.1 per 100,000 people. This is up from 300.8 the previous week and is the highest since the seven days to November 12.
But Covid-19 hospital numbers in the borough are stillless than a third of the peak of the pandemic, according to the leader of Manchester City Council, Sir Richard Leese.
Nearly one out of two Americans have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine as of Tuesday, while half the citizens above the age of 18 in the country have been fully vaccinated, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The agency said 164,378,258 people, or 49.5% of the total U.S. population, had received at least one dose, while 131,078,608 people, or 50% of the adult population, in the country are fully vaccinated.
The United States has administered 287,788,872 doses of COVID-19 vaccines in the country as of Tuesday morning and distributed 359,004,955 doses, according to the agency.
Those figures are up from the 286,890,900 vaccine doses the CDC said had gone into arms by May 24 out of the 357,250,475 doses delivered.
The CDC tally includes two-dose vaccines from Moderna (MRNA.O) and Pfizer/BioNTech (PFE.N), as well as Johnson & Johnson's (JNJ.N) one-shot vaccine as of 6:00 a.m. ET on Tuesday.
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
This story was originally published by Carolina Public Press.
In an effort to encourage North Carolinians to get the Covid-19 vaccine, the Department of Health and Human Services announced a $25 gift card incentive for recipients and drivers at designated sites in four counties: Guilford, Mecklenburg, Rockingham and Rowan.
People 18 and older who receive any of the Covid-19 vaccines at participating sites between May 26 and June 8 will receive a $25 Summer Cash Card.
Recipients may schedule an appointment, but thethree sites in Guilford and four sites in Mecklenburgalso accept walk-in clients. The site locations for Rowan and Rockingham are not yet listed on the departments website.
Anyone 18 and older who drives a recipient to a designated vaccine site is also eligible for a gift card under the new program. The incentive is limited to one card per visit, but there is no limit on how many times a driver may bring recipients to sites and receive a card for each visit.
We have a strong supply of Covid-19 vaccines, and we want to make it as easy as possible for people to get their free Covid-19 vaccine, DHHS Secretary Dr.Mandy Cohensaid. We also want to support those who have made the effort to help family members, friends and neighbors get vaccinated.
The giveaway is part of the departments statewide Bring Summer Back vaccination campaign designed to encourage vaccination to slow the spread of Covid-19. Vaccines are free at all sites. The cards are provided by State Employees Credit Union, which waived the card production fees.
Other states have offered incentives to encourage vaccination. In Ohio, vaccine recipients areeligible for entryinto a lottery for five $1 million cash awards. Kentuckyalso offered lottery ticketsto motivate residents to get the shot.
Some companies also provided incentives for vaccination. Krispy Kremegives away a free daily doughnutto anyone showing proof of vaccination.
North Carolina ranks 37th in percentage of people receiving at least one dose of the vaccine, according to theMayo Clinic vaccine tracker.
Participating sitesare listed on the DHHS website,and appointments may be scheduled online. A full list of all Covid-19 vaccine sites in the state is available atYour Spot, Your Shotor by calling the Vaccine Help Center at 866-675-4567.
The European Union, which has been lagging in getting its 450 million citizens vaccinated against COVID-19, expects to take delivery of 1 billion vaccine doses by the end of September, propelling it past its goal of inoculating at least 70% of its population by late summer.
The document did not include either Germanys CureVac CVAC, +0.96% or Frances Sanofi SNY, +0.07% SAN, -0.27%, which are also developing vaccines and pushing to get them authorized. The EU has signed contracts with those companies, too, meaning that if they succeed in gaining emergency authorization the 27 member states would have even more supply.
The news came as EU leaders at a summit agreed to introduce a digital COVID-19 certificate proving vaccination on July 1, a move they hope will allow tourism to restart in force this summer.
The EU has said it would open its borders to fully vaccinated travelers from other regions. The certificate, which will include a scannable QR code that will link to digital signatures on EU servers, will show whether an individual has been fully vaccinated or has immunity from COVID after contracting the virus, AFP reported.
EU leaders also committed to sharing vaccines with other countries, a pledge first made at a G-20 summit in Rome last week. The EU has ordered up to 4.4 billion vaccine doses over the next two years and has said it would share up to 100 million doses by year-end.
That comes a day after the World Health Organization kicked off its annual meeting with a stinging critique of wealthier countries for allowing a scandalous inequity in COVID-19 vaccines. WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesussaid a small group of countries that make and buy the bulk of available vaccines control the fate of the rest of the world.
Tedros continued with that theme on Tuesday on social media.
U.S. health officials and the State Department on Monday warned Americans against travel to Japan because of a surge in coronavirus cases in the country, which is preparing to host the Olympics in just two months, the Associated Press reported.
The twin alerts dont ban U.S. citizens from visiting the country, but they could have an impact on insurance rates for travelers and may factor into decisions by Olympic athletes and spectators as to whether to compete in or attend the delayed 2020 Summer Games, which are due to start in July.
Travelers should avoid all travel to Japan, the Atlanta-based Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said in a new COVID-19 update. Because of the current situation in Japan even fully vaccinated travelers may be at risk for getting and spreading COVID-19 variants and should avoid all travel to Japan.
Japanese surveys have consistently shown that many people are worried about their countrys hosting the event during a pandemic, but Prime Minister Yoshide Suga has pledged to forge ahead.
The U.S. vaccination drive continues with the CDC vaccine tracker showing that 130.6 million people are now fully vaccinated, equal to 39.3% of the population. Almost 164 million Americans have had at least one dose. Among adults aged 18 and older, roughly 50% are now fully vaccinated.
Among Americans 65 and older, 40.5 million people are fully vaccinated, equal to 74% of that group. Almost 47 million people in that age bracket have received a first jab, covering 85.4% of that population.
A Word from the Experts:Rick Bright wants to wipe out this virus but its going to take better COVID-19 vaccines, distributed to 70% of the worlds population
Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey has signed legislation banning private business and public entities, including schools, from requiring proof of COVID vaccination to provide services, according to local media. Alabamas COVID-19 caseload, like the rest of the countrys, has eased in the last few months. According to BamaTracker, which collects data on the outbreak in the state, the seven-day daily average of cases was 200, the lowest number reported since April 8, 2020, near the dawn of the pandemic.
Modernas COVID-19 vaccine was effective in children aged 12 to 17 in a new study, a finding that could clear the way for a second vaccine for use in adolescents, Dow Jones Newswires reported. The Moderna vaccine induced immune responses among children that were comparable to those seen in a study of adults last year. There were no cases of symptomatic COVID-19 among vaccine recipients, suggesting 100% vaccine efficacy in adolescents, though overall very few among the 3,700 children in the study got sick. Based on the results, Moderna plans in early June to request that regulators in the U.S. and other countries authorize the use of its vaccine in children aged 12 to 17 years.
A breath test that aims to detect COVID-19 in under one minute has received provisional authorization from Singapores health authorities, the National University of Singapore, or NUS, said in a statement, MarketWatchs Lina Saigol reported. Breathonix, the NUS spinoff that developed the rapid test, said it is now working with the Singapore Ministry of Health to run a deployment trial of the technology at one of the city-states border points with Malaysia. The breath analysis will be carried out alongside the current, compulsory COVID-19 antigen rapid test.
Read:Value of COVID-19 testing shrinks as vaccines beat back virus
Oxygen shortages are causing havoc in dozens of countries struggling with surging COVID-19 cases and threatening the total collapse of healthcare systems, the Guardian reported. The paper cited a Bureau of Investigative Journalism analysis that found 19 countries, including India, Argentina, Iran, Nepal, the Philippines, Malaysia, Pakistan, Argentina, Costa Rica, Ecuador andSouth Africa, are most at risk after seeing a huge spike in demand since March. Those countries have vaccinated less than 20% of their populations.
Australias second largest city, Melbourne, reinstated COVID-19 restrictions on Tuesday as authorities scrambled to find the missing link in a fresh outbreak, prompting New Zealand to pause a travel bubble with the state of Victoria, Reuters reported. Amid worries that the cluster, which has grown to nine cases in two days, could spark a major outbreak, Victoria imposed social restrictions and made face masks mandatory in hotels, restaurants and other indoor venues. The outbreak comes after a roughly three-month spell with zero cases.
See:COVID-19 pandemic was a preventable disaster, made worse by a lack of global coordination and dithering, independent panel finds
Read now:Will corporate greed prolong the COVID-19 pandemic?
The global tally for the coronavirus-borne illness climbed above 167.4 million on Tuesday,according to data aggregated by Johns Hopkins University, while the death toll rose above 3.47 million.
The U.S. continues to lead the world in total cases with 33.1 million and deaths with 590,698, although cases, hospitalizations and deaths are all falling as more Americans become vaccinated.
India is second worldwide with 26.9 million cases, and third with 307,321 deaths, but those numbers are understood to be greatly undercounted, given a shortage of tests.
Brazil is third in cases with 16.1 million and second in deaths with 449,858.
Mexico is fourth by fatalities with 221,695 and 2.4 million cases.
The U.K. has 4.5 million cases and 128,001 deaths, the fifth-highest in the world and most of any country in Europe.
China,where the virus was first discovered late in 2019,has had 102,892 confirmed cases and 4,846 deaths, according to its official numbers, which are widely held to be massively underreported.
Home-price gains continue to accelerate, reflecting the significant imbalance between the supply and demand for housing across the U.S., MarketWatchs Jacob Passy reported.
The index of home prices across 20 large cities increased at yearly pace of 13.3% in March, according to theS&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller home price index. On a monthly basis, home prices were up 1.6%.
The markets strength is broadly based: all 20 cities rose, and all 20 gained more in the 12 months ended in March than they had gained in the 12 months ended in February, Craig J. Lazzara, managing director and global head of index investment strategy at S&P DJI, said in the report.
The separate national index, which measures home prices across the country, displayed a similar 13.2% gain over the past year, which equates to the highest annual gain since December 2005.
House-price growth over the prior year clocked in at more than twice the rate of growth observed in the first quarter of 2020, just before the effects of the pandemic were felt in housing markets, Lynn Fisher, deputy director of FHFAs division of research and statistics, said in the report.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA, -0.24% and S&P 500 SPX, -0.21% were flat Tuesday after shedding early gains.
Novavax(NASDAQ:NVAX) was one of the top stocks in the entire stock market in 2020, running up from $4 a share on Jan. 2 all the way to $119 a share by Dec. 31. It had this magnificent run as Wall Street became more and more convinced that the company's COVID-19 vaccine would make a lot of money. And while Novavax's vaccine still hasn't been approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), many investors remain bullish that it will be soon.
The stock market, however, is a forward-looking mechanism. So what's in the pipeline? Novavax also has a flu vaccine with great phase 3 data. Investors are expecting that drug to also win FDA approval. But what's tantalizing for long-term shareholders are the company's plans for vaccination over the next decade. In this video fromMotleyFool Live, recorded on May 14, Corinne Cardina, healthcare and cannabis bureau chief at Fool.com, and Motley Fool writer Taylor Carmichael discuss the prospects for a COVID-19/Flu combo shot.
Corinne Cardina: Let's talk a little bit more about Novavax. So you mentioned this is one of the companies that is supplying the third world. They're sending doses to COVAX. What is the latest with Novavax? They had said that they might be able to combine the flu and the COVID vaccine. What is the timeline and probability that something like that actually comes to fruition?
Taylor Carmichael: That's very exciting. I think for all investors really. They just released their animal data. They've already found their molecule. They've already combined their flu vaccine with their COVID-19 vaccine, which both those vaccines are highly successful. They've combined them and now they have to test it all over again. So it's not just a matter of putting two vaccines together in one shot, you have to test it again but what they are happy to see is they've gotten the same response in ferrets and hamsters that they had before. They had a huge number of antibodies created. They saw no signs -- they introduced COVID-19 into these animals -- they saw no signs of it reproducing. They saw no signs of pneumonia in the lungs. It was a really good release of data and they're going to start human trials later this year. It probably will not be as fast as the COVID-19 vaccines, I don't think the FDA is going to do that super accelerated pathway. I would not expect that drug to hit the market in a year. I wouldn't expect that at all, but possibly in 2022, but more likely 2023. I think it's highly likely that you can start seeing combo vaccines in the market. You will see Novavax's and Moderna's also pursuing this, and that's, I think, where the future is going to be. The future is going to be people going to get their flu vaccine and they're going to get COVID vaccine, and they're going to get the same shot.
This article represents the opinion of the writer, who may disagree with the official recommendation position of a Motley Fool premium advisory service. Were motley! Questioning an investing thesis -- even one of our own -- helps us all think critically about investing and make decisions that help us become smarter, happier, and richer.
She is still not back to her daily three-mile runs with her dog because of shortness of breath. Im young, 43, healthy, with no pre-existing conditions, but you often find me now on the couch resting, Ms. Cohn said.
Dont people want to know about this? she asked. Where do people like me go? What happens next? The practitioners in my life have been shocked and are trying to figure out how to move forward, but there are so many questions. And if no one is studying this, there wont be answers.
Another rationale given for not tracking all breakthrough infections is that they are not likely to result in further spread of the virus. But the scientific evidence for this is not conclusive, some experts say.
At Rockefeller University, which routinely tests students and employees for the coronavirus on its campus in New York City, breakthrough infections were identified in two women who had been fully vaccinated and had developed robust immune responses after inoculation, according to a study published in The New England Journal of Medicine.
Both of the vaccinated women, a 51-year-old and a 65-year-old, developed mild symptoms of Covid-19; viral sequencing revealed they had been infected with variants. One of the individuals had an extraordinarily high viral load, said Dr. Robert B. Darnell, an investigator at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and the papers senior author.
The patient is not known to have spread the disease to anyone else, he said. Still, he said, she had twice the transmissible viral load number in a pinhead drop of saliva.
Diana Berrent, founder of Survivor Corps, a group of people who have had Covid-19, has called for establishing a national registry of all people with Covid-19, including those who had mild and asymptomatic cases, in order to gather as much data as possible for future research.
(CNN)
As the Covid-19 vaccine rollout continues in the United States, with people ages 12 and older receiving their shots, vaccine makers are now preparing for a next possible phase: booster doses.
Currently three coronavirus vaccines are authorized for emergency use in the United States the two-dose Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine for ages 12 and older, the two-dose Moderna vaccine for ages 18 and older and the single-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccines for ages 18 and older.
Researchers and health officials suspect that the immunity against Covid-19 these vaccines elicit in the body might wane over long periods of time say, possibly, after a year or more and might not protect as well against coronavirus variants that could emerge and evolve.
Therefore, a vaccinated person might need a booster dose of vaccine to stay protected against the original coronavirus strain and newly emerging variants somewhat similar to how a tetanus booster is recommended every 10 years or different flu vaccines are recommended each year.
Many people may be familiar with tetanus-toxoid vaccines that are recommended every 10 years thats a booster dose. Its reminding our immune system so that if we ever got exposed to that toxin, our immune system would remember it and respond very quickly, Dr. William Moss, professor and executive director of the International Vaccine Access Center at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, told CNN on Friday.
In the case of Covid-19 vaccines it remains unknown for how long immune protection lasts, but vaccine developers and health officials know it may not be forever and that emerging variants could escape immunity.
There is a little nuance with Covid-19 vaccines, Moss said.
While typical booster doses use same vaccine someone previously received to remind the immune system about immunity to a pathogen, any future boosters for the Covid-19 shot could use different vaccines altogether.
Currently, the need for and timing for COVID-19 booster doses have not been established. No additional doses are recommended at this time, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention notes on its website.
But Americans should prepare to have a Covid-19 vaccine booster shot within a year, US Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy told CNNs Wolf Blitzer on Thursday.
We have to see how long the protection lasts. We know it lasts at least six months, but well have to see, Murthy said. Its very possible, though, and people should be prepared for the fact that we may need a booster within a year.
Despite such predictions, Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, told CNN the bottom line is we dont know.
Were preparing for the eventuality that we might need boosters, but I think weve got to be careful not to let the people know that inevitably, x number of months from now, everyones going to need a booster. Thats just not the case, Fauci, chief medical adviser to President Joe Biden, said at a Washington Post Live event. We may not need it for quite a while.
Scientists at a number of companies that make Covid-19 vaccines have also predicted the need for boosters within a year but the scientific community is not in widespread agreement on this.
Were making extrapolations from incomplete data, Fauci told The Washington Post on Thursday.
So far, studies have shown that mRNA vaccines those made by Pfizer and Moderna maintain more than 90% efficacy six months after getting vaccinated. And scientists say its likely much longer.
Other studies have looked at antibodies in the lab. While a decline is expected over time, Fauci told the Post the steepness of that slope is unclear right now.
Experts say it is also unclear how these antibody levels correlate with real-world immunity, and to what extent other parts of the immune system such as T cells could factor into protection.
Whether booster coronavirus vaccine doses are modified or not, missing a booster dose if one is recommended in the future could leave someone less protected against Covid-19.
A person who skipped a booster is placing themselves at higher risk of getting infected, and getting disease from the SARS-Coronavirus-2, but I would also expect that theyre going to have some partial immunity and so they may be protected against more severe disease, Moss said. SARS-CoV-2 is the virus that causes Covid-19.
Its just a function of how much their immunity has waned or how different a variant is, he said. Theyre just at higher risk of infection and disease than someone who got the booster, but they have more immunity than someone who was never vaccinated.
Scientists are also currently investigating whether it makes a difference if someone gets the same type of vaccine as a booster as the original dose administered.
This question of mixing and matching certainly is relevant to booster doses, Moss said. Its also relevant to any two-dose vaccine schedule, and its also an area of active research.
Researchers in the United Kingdom reported last week that people who got mixed doses of coronavirus vaccines receiving a different vaccine type as a second dose than the first dose appear to be more likely to experience mild side effects such as fever, chills, fatigue or headache.
But the side effects following mix-and-match vaccinations were short-lived and there were no other safety concerns, the researchers reported in the Lancet medical journal.
As for booster doses in the future, I can very much envision a situation in which people might get a very different type of vaccine for that booster dose than they had originally, Moss said. The big question I have, I guess, is how much underlying scientific evidence are we going to have to support that to actually make it a recommendation? That I dont know yet, but its certainly likely to happen by default, just because perhaps the original vaccine is not available.
Currently, the CDC says, Covid-19 vaccines are not interchangeable and there has been no decision either in the US or globally on the need for booster doses yet, let alone which vaccine might be appropriate for any booster.
All three companies that currently have authorized coronavirus vaccines in the United States Pfizer, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson are investigating the potential use of boosters.
We are right now in the middle of these trials and the data are coming as we speak, Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla told Axios during a virtual event on Wednesday.
The data that I see coming, they are supporting the notion that likely there will be a need for a booster somewhere between eight and 12 months, Bourla said. But that remains to be seen and I believe in one, two months we will have enough data to speak about it with much higher scientific certainty.
The first dose of Pfizers coronavirus vaccine in the United States was administered on December 14, 2020 five months ago. As time goes on, if people received their second dose of vaccine eight months ago, they may need a third one, Bourla said. This could be coming sooner than later, I believe from September, October. But this is something, again, that the data need to confirm.
Moderna is currently conducting booster shot trials too.
The fight against the coronavirus pandemic is expected to continue through next year due to the emergence of variants, Dr. Stephen Hoge, president of Moderna, said during an earnings call earlier this month.
We think this is just the beginning, Hoge said. Therefore, were committed as a company to make as many updates to the vaccine, to add as many variants as we think are necessary, to ensure that when people receive a booster, it provides the broadest immune protection against the widest range of variants.
Johnson & Johnson is also looking into the potential for boosters.
We have ongoing and planned trials that will aid our assessment of the need for, and timing of, booster doses of our vaccine, according to an emailed statement Johnson & Johnson sent to CNN on Thursday.
Johnson & Johnsons coronavirus vaccine, along with Pfizers, Modernas, and four others, are being tested as seasonal boosters in a study called Cov-Boost being conducted by the UKs National Institute for Health Research and the University of Southhampton.
The biotechnology company Novavax has developed a coronavirus vaccine that its chief executive officer Stanley Erck believes could be used as a booster shot for people who have already been vaccinated. The company plans to apply for emergency use authorization of its vaccine in the United States in the third quarter of 2021.
In the US, I think it will be the booster for everyone, particularly if we get it out late in the third quarter, Erck told CNN last week. Its going to be time to start boosting whether its six months or at a year point.
The decision to use Covid-19 boosters is expected to involve two agencies the US Food and Drug Administration and the CDC and the regulatory process to get the shots into arms could vary depending on whether the booster is the same vaccine that was originally used or is a modified version.
So, if its the same vaccine, my understanding is that what would have to happen is that the CDC would have to recommend an additional dose with details around when that should occur, Moss said.
If its a modified vaccine, this is where things get interesting and I dont think we quite know, he said, but added that the regulatory process could be similar to what happens with flu vaccines each year.
Technically, whenever a vaccine like that is modified, its often considered a new vaccine and has to go through the whole process again. But there is a precedent, obviously, with influenza virus vaccines, not to do that, Moss said. So, the influenza vaccine each year doesnt have to go through a large Phase 3 trial.
Thats because the vaccine technology stays the same, and the only change is the flu virus itself that the vaccine targets to elicit immunity to a specific flu virus strain thats circulating.
Moss said thats what he expects could happen with modified coronavirus vaccines.
At this time, available information suggests that the FDA-authorized vaccines remain effective in protecting the American public against currently circulating strains of SARS-CoV-2. However, if there is an emergence of SARS-CoV-2 variant(s) in the U.S. that are moderately or fully resistant to the antibody response elicited by the current generation of COVID-19 vaccines, it may be necessary to tailor the vaccines to the variant(s), an FDA spokesperson told CNN on Thursday.
The FDA updated its guidance for vaccine developers in February, noting that manufacturers should generate the data to support authorization of a modified vaccine.
Further discussions will be necessary to decide whether in the future, modified COVID-19 vaccines may be authorized without the need for clinical studies, according to the guidance. But overall, vaccine developers are encouraged to perform exploratory studies on modified vaccines to boost immune responses.
CNNs Virginia Langmaid, Michael Nedelman and Jen Christensen contributed to this report.
