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According to experts, it is too early to say for sure whether the parties will need to arrange a third dose of the coronavirus vaccine later this year. Some argue that priority should be given to the hundreds of millions of people in the southern hemisphere who have not yet been vaccinated with the first dose.
We provide an overview of what vaccine manufacturers and authorities are talking about about the need for a third dose and what steps some states have already taken.
Why three?
Earlier this month, vaccine makers Pfizer / BioNTech announced their intention to apply for permission from US and European drug regulators to use a third dose of their vaccines.
According to them, the goal is to provide people with stronger immunity than two doses of the drug.
Manufacturers claim that two doses of their vaccine protect against the severe form of COVID-19 for at least half a year.
However, they said they anticipated that the vaccine’s effectiveness would decline slightly over time as new variants emerge.
Anthony Fauci, the US government’s top infectious disease specialist, told CNBC on Tuesday that Pfizer / BioNTech’s request for a third dose was “an adequate preparation in case a maintenance dose might be necessary.” .
“However, interpreting this as ‘We will need a maintenance dose, everyone will need it’ is not correct,” Fauci said.
He added that too many people have yet to get two doses of the coronavirus vaccine, let alone three.
What do the authorities say?
There is currently no indication that pharmacovigilance authorities intend to recommend a third vaccination for those who have received two doses of the coronavirus vaccine.
The European Medicines Agency (EMA) and the European Center for Disease Control (ECDC) say it is too early to say whether a third dose will be needed.
“There is not yet enough data from vaccination campaigns and ongoing research to understand how long the protection provided by vaccines will last, given the proliferation of variants,” said a joint statement from the EEA and ECDC.
Didier Houssin, chairman of the World Health Organization (WHO) emergency committee, said he didn’t think there was enough evidence to recommend a third dose now.
He also warned that talking about a third dose could “raise concerns about access to vaccines” at a time when in many countries only a small proportion of the population is fully vaccinated.
At the time, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said on Friday that some citizens could receive a third dose of the COVID-19 vaccine starting next month.
When it comes to vaccines, Budapest often tends to act alone: Hungary uses not only the Moderna, Pfizer / BioNTech, AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson vaccines approved in the European Union, but also Chinese and Russian vaccines.
Does it benefit vulnerable people?
Although universal vaccination campaigns with the third dose of COVID-19 are not yet on the horizon, some countries have already begun to adopt this type of practice for certain groups of people.
These include people with weak immune systems, including those who have had an organ transplant, cancer patients, or people who have kidney problems.
Often times, your body’s natural immune response to pathogens is suppressed, which means that the immune response elicited by vaccines may not be as powerful.
This week, a third dose of the COVID-19 vaccine was released in France and Israel for certain groups of people.
“Recent data has shown that the immune response elicited by two doses is insufficient for severely immunosuppressed people,” the French vaccine committee said in May.
Israel, for its part, said the decision to vaccinate with a third dose of the vaccine was motivated by the increasing number of coronavirus infections reported daily and the risk to immunosuppressed patients.
Is it good for the elderly?
On Monday, France took another step forward by announcing the launch of a “maintenance dose campaign” in September targeting people who had been vaccinated earlier this year.
The council responsible for the vaccination campaign said earlier this month that a third dose would begin for people over 80 years of age.
“The scientific evidence supporting this proposal is still limited, but given the studies showing a reduction in antibody levels in this population and the potential serious impact on the surveillance system, it seems reasonable,” the council said.
According to the authority, it is possible that younger people could receive a third dose of the vaccine at a later date, but this will depend on how the pandemic develops.
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