Pfizer requests authorization to apply fourth dose against COVID-19

Pfizer, in an unexpected statement, has asked the health regulatory institutions of the United States to authorize a fourth dose of its vaccine. The pharmaceutical company argues that over the months the immunity of the applied vaccines is decreasing and, at the same time, emphasizes this as a necessity to face future variants of Covid-19 in the most vulnerable people.

Albert Bourla, CEO of Pfizer, stated that “many variants are coming, and Ómicron was the first that was able to cleverly evade the immune protection that we are providing.” Making it clear that, although the third dose is quite good, it does not last long and long-term protection against infection cannot be guaranteed.

Now, Pfizer and BioNTech have sent information to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) from Israel where they show data from a study in health workers in this country who received the fourth dose and whose results showed higher levels of antibodies against the coronavirus.

How is the coronavirus going in the world?

Without a doubt, the coronavirus significantly marked the lives of all human beings. Economic and social closures cost most countries a fortune. To this we must add all the infected people who collapsed the health systems and the lives that were lost for two years, is something that cannot happen again.

Evidently, to this day, the pandemic seems to be abating thanks to vaccination campaigns. Therefore, the cases have dropped so abruptly that in some nations the restriction on the use of masks in open spaces has been eliminated.

However, the WHO has stated on different occasions that this will not be the last pandemic and that the planet must prepare for similar events in the near future. Likewise, the scientific community monitors all the new variants that arise and the way in which they could change the course of things.

Although Omicron was a variant that helped the pandemic by being more transmissible and less lethal, the possibility of dangerous mutations that put people's stability at risk is not ruled out.

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Pfizer plans a vaccine with a longer duration

As mentioned at the beginning, Pfizer has requested authorization from the FDA for the application of a fourth dose, this with the aim of guaranteeing greater protection against contagion. However, the pharmaceutical company has been working on a new project that will allow the creation of another vaccine that works for Ómicron and all existing variants.

As such, what is sought with this new biologic is that it lasts at least one year and, in the same way, manages to prevent contagion with a higher percentage of efficiency than the vaccines we already have.

"If we're able to pull that off, then I think it's very easy to follow and remember so we can really go back to the way we used to live," Bourla concludes.