Scientific Director of the Valdecilla Health Research Institute (IDIVAL), Head of the Immunology Department, and Professor of Immunology at the University of Cantabria-Marqués de Valdecilla University Hospital
To estimate the effectiveness of two or three doses of vaccines against covid-19 infection and hospitalisation, researchers in Denmark conducted a study of all previously uninfected Danish residents aged 12 years and older. The conclusion of the research, which is published in PLOS Medicine, is that a third dose provided greater protection against infection and hospitalisation with omicron than two vaccines.
The UK Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) has approved an updated version of the covid-19 vaccine manufactured by Moderna that also targets the omicron variant. It is intended to serve as a booster dose for adults.
Two studies published in The Lancet Infectious Diseases confirm that covid-19 vaccines offer additional protection for those already infected with SARS-CoV-2, especially against severe disease.
The director of the Vaccine Strategy of the European Medicines Agency (EMA), Marco Cavaleri, told a press conference on 11 January that "it is not sustainable in the long term to continue giving booster doses every three or four months [to the general population]". Spanish immunologists agree that this is not the right thing to do. In these reactions they explain why.
In the last few days, data, preprints, press releases and even graphs have started to arrive via social media showing how neutralising antibodies against the omicron variant behave. These studies are preliminary and we will have to wait and see how these lab data translate into the real world.
The European Medicines Agency issued its recommendations yesterday afternoon regarding the administration of a third dose of the Comirnaty (Pfizer/BioNTech) and Spikevax (Moderna) vaccines. These are the reactions of several experts on the matter.