What I learned from this PR:
1) The final lot release of the COVID-19 vaccine from the manufacturer for use in clinical trials is scheduled for July.
2) We will evaluate blood samples from Ii-Key vaccinated patients to evaluate the neutralizing antibody responses against the coronavirus and its variants in a secure, BSL-3 laboratory.
It is good to know 1), it seems that there will not be an additional delay on this side. The second point can be really cool, depending on how deep in the analyses they go. If you type "neutralizing antibody variant" in google, you got first a correspondence in the Lancet from last week showing that Pfizer generally produces neutralizing antibodies (NAb) against the variants but that the titers (NAbTs) are much lower, and decrease with time from the second shot. Imagine what kind of "advertisement" you can have if you show something better for the complete vaccine, just from the phase I data...
"Two doses of BNT162b2 elicited ELISA-detected anti-Wild-type spike antibodies in all participants, and NAb activity against all strains, including the three VOCs tested, in all except six (3%) and nine (5%) of 159 participants who lacked NAb activity against B.1.617.2 and B.1.351, respectively (appendix p 2). NAbTs of sera correlated well between Wild-type and variants (appendix p 2; RS>0·82, p<2 × 10−16), as well as between VOCs (B.1.617.2 vs B.1.351: RS=0·85, p<2 × 10−16). However, NAbTs were 5·8-fold reduced against B.1.617.2 relative to Wild-type (95% CI 5·0–6·9), significantly more reduced than against B.1.1.7 (2·6-fold vs Wild-type, 95% CI 2·2–3·1), and on a similar order to the reduction observed against B.1.351 (4·9-fold vs Wild-type, 95% CI 4·2–5·7)."
"it is worth highlighting that in the case of two BNT162b2 doses, our cohort of generally healthy, relatively young, recently vaccinated, and mostly single-ethnicity individuals presents a reasonable best-case scenario for NAb activity against SARS-CoV-2 variants."
"In the longer term, we note that both increased age and time since the second dose of BNT162b2 significantly correlate with decreased NAb activity against B.1.617.2 and B.1.351—both of which are also characteristic of the population in the UK at highest risk of severe COVID-19 (ie, older and vaccinated earlier), independent of other existing factors such as compromised immune status or comorbidity, or geographic-specific responses to vaccination.
Consequently, further booster immunisations of JCVI Priority Groups in the UK and similar groups in other counties, as well as others with lower vaccine-induced NAbTs than the cohort of BNT162b2 recipients studied here (ideally with modified vaccines that induce NAbs that broadly neutralise emerging VOCs) are more likely to be required to maintain the highest levels of NAbs in regions where B.1.617.2 or other equally NAb-resistant strains become prevalent."
1) The final lot release of the COVID-19 vaccine from the manufacturer for use in clinical trials is scheduled for July.
2) We will evaluate blood samples from Ii-Key vaccinated patients to evaluate the neutralizing antibody responses against the coronavirus and its variants in a secure, BSL-3 laboratory.
It is good to know 1), it seems that there will not be an additional delay on this side. The second point can be really cool, depending on how deep in the analyses they go. If you type "neutralizing antibody variant" in google, you got first a correspondence in the Lancet from last week showing that Pfizer generally produces neutralizing antibodies (NAb) against the variants but that the titers (NAbTs) are much lower, and decrease with time from the second shot. Imagine what kind of "advertisement" you can have if you show something better for the complete vaccine, just from the phase I data...
"Two doses of BNT162b2 elicited ELISA-detected anti-Wild-type spike antibodies in all participants, and NAb activity against all strains, including the three VOCs tested, in all except six (3%) and nine (5%) of 159 participants who lacked NAb activity against B.1.617.2 and B.1.351, respectively (appendix p 2). NAbTs of sera correlated well between Wild-type and variants (appendix p 2; RS>0·82, p<2 × 10−16), as well as between VOCs (B.1.617.2 vs B.1.351: RS=0·85, p<2 × 10−16). However, NAbTs were 5·8-fold reduced against B.1.617.2 relative to Wild-type (95% CI 5·0–6·9), significantly more reduced than against B.1.1.7 (2·6-fold vs Wild-type, 95% CI 2·2–3·1), and on a similar order to the reduction observed against B.1.351 (4·9-fold vs Wild-type, 95% CI 4·2–5·7)."
"it is worth highlighting that in the case of two BNT162b2 doses, our cohort of generally healthy, relatively young, recently vaccinated, and mostly single-ethnicity individuals presents a reasonable best-case scenario for NAb activity against SARS-CoV-2 variants."
"In the longer term, we note that both increased age and time since the second dose of BNT162b2 significantly correlate with decreased NAb activity against B.1.617.2 and B.1.351—both of which are also characteristic of the population in the UK at highest risk of severe COVID-19 (ie, older and vaccinated earlier), independent of other existing factors such as compromised immune status or comorbidity, or geographic-specific responses to vaccination.
Consequently, further booster immunisations of JCVI Priority Groups in the UK and similar groups in other counties, as well as others with lower vaccine-induced NAbTs than the cohort of BNT162b2 recipients studied here (ideally with modified vaccines that induce NAbs that broadly neutralise emerging VOCs) are more likely to be required to maintain the highest levels of NAbs in regions where B.1.617.2 or other equally NAb-resistant strains become prevalent."
