New recall targets Covid variants more effectively, says Pfizer

Federal officials are hoping encouraging new findings will prompt more Americans to get an updated reminder ahead of a feared spike in coronavirus cases this winter.

< p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0">WASHINGTON — A new study from Pfizer and BioNTech suggests their updated coronavirus booster is better than its predecessor at boosting antibody levels in people over the age of 55 years against the most common version of the virus currently circulating.

Federal officials hope the encouraging results will improve what has so far been a dismal public response reorganized shots. Only about 8% of Americans ages 5 and older have received the new boosters from Pfizer and Moderna since their introduction in September.

Pfizer and BioNTech announced the results of the study in a Friday press release. The companies said that a month after receiving the new booster, clinical trial participants over the age of 55 had antibody levels about four times higher than those who received the original booster. The study measured levels of neutralizing antibodies against two sister subvariants of Omicron known as BA.4 and BA.5.

The number The number of study participants was small, with 36 people over the age of 55 receiving the new booster and 40 people in that age group receiving the old one. And because the study measured antibody levels just one month after trial participants were recalled, it provided no indication of the potential durability of longer-term protection.

Still, Dr. Ashish K. Jha, White House Covid-19 Response Coordinator, said the results were "much better than I expected" given the ongoing scientific debate over whether the updated boosters would prove more than a marginal advance over their predecessors. "This is a pretty substantial upgrade," he said.

The results of a similar clinical trial conducted by Moderna on its updated booster are expected as early as next week.

Pfizer's study also looked at the effects of its updated vaccine on young adults, although the The study did not include a control group that would have allowed a comparison for this age group between the new booster and the original.

Pfizer said the updated vaccine increased antibodies nearly ten times for young adults and 13 times for older adults compared to antibody levels before receiving the vaccine. Virologists said these responses are to be expected after a booster.

"There will be additional protection for a period of time, measured over a few months," said the Dr. John P. Moore, virologist at Weill Cornell Medicine. "The magnitude of the added protection is difficult to assess because it depends on the variants present."

Biden administration officials said the results offer a new reason for Americans to seek out updated plans ahead of what experts fear could be a winter surge of the virus that leads to tens of thousands of unnecessary deaths.

"You can see the train rolling down the tracks," said Dr. Peter Marks, the lead vaccine regulator for the Food and Drug Administration. "Now is the time to get off the rails, not when you can smell the train engine oil."

But as the pandemic nears the three-year mark, the public appears deeply weary of Covid vaccinations. In a Kaiser investigation Family Foundation conducted in September, half of adults said q u they had heard little or nothing about the new boosters.

"People just went offline," said Michael Fraser, CEO of the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials. "Which is totally unfortunate and not where you want to be."

Updated snapshots from Pfizer and Moderna target the original version of the virus as well as the 'Omicron sub-variants BA.4 and BA.5. This latter sub-variant has become dominant in the United States this su...