The pharmaceutical company Pfizer will request this week the permission of the federal medical authorities for an additional booster dose of its COVID-19 vaccine (in total, it would be the fourth) for people over 65 years of age, as confirmed by a person familiar with the matter to The Associated Press news agency.
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) must approve Pfizer's application (together with its partner BioNTech) for the fourth dose of the vaccine in just one year .
A dose of Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine. Steven Senne / AP
"We continue to collect and evaluate all available data and maintain an ongoing and open dialogue with regulators and health authorities to help inform COVID-19 vaccine strategy as the coronavirus evolves," the spokeswoman said. of Pfizer, Jerica Pitts.
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According to The Washington Post, the pharmaceutical company will use case studies in Israel, the first country to authorize the second booster dose for the elderly, in its application.
According to a source to the publication, the federal approval could happen quickly and might not require the review of an advisory panel as in the previous cases.
Speaking to CBS on Sunday, the company's director, Albert Bourla, said that this new dose is "necessary" because, although "the protection you get from the third is good enough, it's actually good enough to prevent hospitalizations and deaths, it's not that good at not getting infected, and it doesn't last long.
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The CDC indicated in February that the vaccine's protection against hospitalization and death fell from 91% to 78% four months after receiving the booster.
After learning of this data, leading infectious disease expert Anthony Fauci said the need for another dose "is being carefully monitored."