The head of the American pharmaceutical company Pfizer said on Tuesday that the company is working on booster vaccines to help protect its vaccine against variants of the coronavirus as mutant strains of the virus continue to spread worldwide.
The American biotechnology company Modern said on Monday that it will test adding a boost to its vaccine, totaling three doses, to help it defend against a South African variant.
“Every time a new variant appears, we should be able to test whether [our vaccine] it’s effective, ”Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla told Bloomberg news. “As soon as we discover something that is not so effective, we will be very, very quickly able to produce a booster dose that will be a small variation on the current vaccine.”
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Bourla said the coronavirus is unlikely to be completely eliminated, but will be reduced by drugs to a disease like the common flu, with people receiving an annual injection to defend against new strains.
Pfizer developed its vaccine with the German biotechnology company BioNTech.
Moderna said his vaccine will remain protective against the variants first identified in the UK and South Africa, although the injection appears to be less effective against the South African strain.
Israeli officials, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, blamed the British strain for the outbreak of the third wave in Israel, which is intensifying steadily despite the successful vaccination campaign and weeks of national blockade.
Netanyahu issued a warning about the virus’s mutations on Wednesday, while speaking to the World Economic Forum by videoconference.
Despite emphasizing that he is not a vaccine specialist, the prime minister said he believed “it is only a matter of time before we reach a strain to which current vaccines are not susceptible”.
Netanyahu said that, due to the mutations, “we will have to inoculate ourselves at least once a year, I suppose.”
Medical staff in the coronavirus wing of the Ziv Medical Center in the northern city of Safed, January 27, 2021. (David Cohen / Flash90)
The British government’s top scientific adviser said last week that the UK variant probably carries a greater risk of death than the original strain and that the virus “will probably exist forever”.
Israel mainly uses the Pfizer vaccine and has also received shipments of the Moderna vaccine. Israel administered a first dose of vaccine to more than 2.8 million of its 9.3 million citizens in its inoculation campaign and leads the world by far in vaccinations per capita.
On Wednesday, the Ministry of Health extended the vaccination campaign to people over 35.
In an apparent world premiere, on Tuesday the Ministry of Health issued a guideline in favor of vaccinating children under the age of 16 who are at high risk of developing severe symptoms if they contract COVID-19. The decision is still pending final approval.
The death rate, the rate of positive testing, the number of infections and the number of serious cases remained alarming in Israel for weeks. More than 25 percent of the 4,605 Israelis who died of COVID-19 succumbed to the disease just last month.
In addition to the widespread British variant, the Ministry of Health said Thursday that it has found a total of 30 cases of the South African mutation in Israel so far.
Israel extended the closure of Ben Gurion International Airport on Wednesday and is closing most of its land borders with Jordan and Egypt to prevent entry of variants of the virus. The cabinet may extend the national blockade, Israel’s third, which is due to expire on Sunday. The extension will be decided at a cabinet meeting on Thursday, Netanyahu said.
The government’s response to the third wave of the outbreak was hampered by coalition infighting over the application of restrictions in ultra-Orthodox areas.
Some ultra-Orthodox groups ignored the blocking rules and responded to police enforcement with violent riots. Netanyahu’s Likud party has widely sided with its ultra-orthodox political allies against strict application of the rules, while its partner in the outgoing coalition, the Blue and White party, is pushing for stricter enforcement.