Coronavirus - the new strain XVIII

[Sue Pertwee-Tyr]

I missed this yesterday. UK has ordered 60 m more Pfizer doses [the same formulation as is current, so no additional protection] for Autumn boosters

https://www.theguardian.com/society...oses-of-pfizer-covid-vaccine-for-booster-jabs

Do they specify the formulation when ordering? ISTM quite likely that you'd book a delivery slot with the specific variant to be decided at point of manufacture. If Pfizer has developed an updated formulation which deals with recent mutations more effectively, you'd self-evidently take that, but you might have to order 'the vaccine' before that's even out of development, or through MHRA approval.

 

[gavreid]

Do they specify the formulation when ordering? ISTM quite likely that you'd book a delivery slot with the specific variant to be decided at point of manufacture. If Pfizer has developed an updated formulation which deals with recent mutations more effectively, you'd self-evidently take that, but you might have to order 'the vaccine' before that's even out of development, or through MHRA approval.

Seems pretty clear

"The Department of Health and Social Care confirmed to the Guardian that the extra supply of Pfizer jabs would be of the same formulation as those currently offered..."

There seems to be progress on trials of the Pfizer vaccine in kids

https://www.theguardian.com/society...covid-jab-12-to-15-year-olds-europe-from-june

 

[Sue Pertwee-Tyr]

Thanks, only skimmed the piece and had missed that. Wonder what the thinking is there, then?

 

[gavreid]

Thanks, only skimmed the piece and had missed that. Wonder what the thinking is there, then?

The new vaccines won't be ready and SAGE is recommending Autumn boosters I think. I'm not sure where it leaves approval for Novavax - maybe it's to have both options...

 

[paulfromcamden]

Thanks, only skimmed the piece and had missed that. Wonder what the thinking is there, then?

I guess it depends how long immunity is expected to last after vaccination.

 

[gavreid]

2 445 cases today, 22 deaths and 108 admissions. I've updated the admissions graph...

 

[mandryka]

Thanks, only skimmed the piece and had missed that. Wonder what the thinking is there, then?

Well it has to be that they don’t expect the new variants to be a problem in Autumn, and/or they think that a fresh shot of the existing formulation will be good enough to keep a lid on it.

 

[gavreid]

Well it has to be that they don’t expect the new variants to be a problem in Autumn, and/or they think that a fresh shot of the existing formulation will be good enough to keep a lid on it.

There isn't a new vaccine to buy at this time. People have been talking here as if they can be updated on a whim now we are seeing the reality. Moderna are hoping to have one but it'll need to be approved in the UK.

 

[paulfromcamden]

Moderna are hoping to have one but it'll need to be approved in the UK.

I wonder if one of it's major shareholders will be PM by then...

 

[mandryka]

Well you wouldn’t order 60M of them unless you thought they would be good for something!
(More puzzling to me is: why so many?)

 

[Ponty]

Well you wouldn’t order 60M of them unless you thought they would be good for something!
(More puzzling to me is: why so many?)

3rd wave.

 

[Seanm]

We still don’t know how long immunity lasts, Pfizer seems mostly effective against all existing variants, so makes sense to plan for boosters for all - all other things being equal, which of course they’re not. Other places will probably have more use for them come the autumn.

 

[mandryka]

A very disturbing comment on French radio just now, as I was cooking the tomato sauce. Someone said that what we’re seeing now in India could well be a pre-echo of what we will see soon in Africa. And that the only humane thing to do is to ensure now that Africa has enough oxygen, enough health care, enough vaccination, to cope with the tidal wave.

Is anyone listening?

 

[Tony L]

Truly horrific situation in India, C4 News has some very good reporting here. Hard to watch, obviously. Mass burning of bodies in car parks etc.

 

[gintonic]

Well you wouldn’t order 60M of them unless you thought they would be good for something!
(More puzzling to me is: why so many?)

hedging their bets about who or what booster will be needed. But no booster to cover new variants.

 

[Bob McC]

Well you wouldn’t order 60M of them unless you thought they would be good for something!
(More puzzling to me is: why so many?)

Boosters and annual vaccinations for the entire adult population from now on.

 

[mandryka]

hedging their bets about who or what booster will be needed. But no booster to cover new variants.

I think there’s supposed to be a major study happening over summer to see which combinations of vaccines work best. I think they’re doing the right things at the moment, this government, vis-à-vis covid.

 

[gintonic]

I think there’s supposed to be a major study happening over summer to see which combinations of vaccines work best. I think they’re doing the right things at the moment, this government, vis-à-vis covid.

reasonably small scale actually. As more ppl get vaxed it will be harder to run large scale clinical trials as it becomes harder to check for immune responses.

 

[Tony L]

The ‘booster’ is interesting. As they are buying a lot more Pfizer they are either working on the assumption the double-dose won’t last a year, or believe the AZ is ineffective and want some redundancy there. I can’t really think of another explanation as the order is, as far as I’m aware, for the existing Pfizer, not some tweaked version designed to deal with emerging strains (though that would make a lot of sense). Whatever it is I’ll take it!

 

[tqineil]

Can you place an order for a vaccine that hasn’t been tweaked? I suspect changes will be made to ensure effective against variants. Also, I predict they’ll order more AZ soon enough