Research shows that immunocompromised patients may need additional dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, and Pfizer announced Thursday that it is trying to develop a third “booster shot” of the coronavirus vaccine to protect people from the differing variants of the virus.
The company said it was trying to seek FDA emergency use authorization for the booster shot by August.
But the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and the FDA released a joint statement within hours of Pfizer’s announcement, saying it was too soon to develop the booster shots for now.
“We are prepared for booster doses if and when the science demonstrates that they are needed,” the FDA and the CDC said in a joint statement.
Meanwhile, a study published Monday in the Annals of Internal Medicine by researchers at the Johns Hopkins University found that a third dose of the coronavirus vaccine might boost protection for some people, such as organ transplant recipients, with weakened immune systems.
Thirty organ transplant recipients, who were vaccinated against COVID-19 with two shots of the Pfizer or Moderna mRNA vaccines, participated in the study.
Because organ-transplant recipients must take immunosuppressants to ensure their body does not reject their transplanted organ, medical experts are concerned they will not develop enough antibodies from the vaccines to fight COVID-19.
Despite being fully vaccinated, 24 out of the 30 patients in the study had no antibodies against the coronavirus, and six patients had very low levels.
So researchers gave the study participants a third dose of either the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine, or a second dose of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine.
Two weeks later, researchers measured the antibodies again. All of the patients with low levels of antibodies noticed an increase, and eight patients who did not have any antibodies to begin with showed an increase following a third dose of one of the vaccines.
As far as healthy people are concerned, there is more debate over whether or not people should receive a third COVID-19 vaccine.
Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla said in May that healthy people might need a booster shot within 6-to-12 months after the second dose was administered.
Johnson & Johnson CEO Alex Gorsky said in February people should expect to have yearly COVID shots as they would with the flu shots.
But Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease official, said in April that it is too soon to predict whether or not people should receive a third coronavirus vaccine.
Fauci added that experts will have a better idea by the end of this summer or early fall based on how many vaccinated people still contract the coronavirus.
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