Pfizer to seek authorization from US regulators for third COVID-19 vaccine dose

As per Pfizer's study, people's antibody levels jump five- to 10-fold after a third dose, compared to their COVID-19 vaccine's second dose months earlier.

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New Delhi: In order to neutralize the Delta variant, Pfizer on Thursday (July 8) said it will seek US authorisation for a third dose of its COVID-19 vaccine. Pfizer's Dr. Mikael Dolsten told The Associated Press citing the company's study that people's antibody levels jump five- to 10-fold after a third dose, compared to their COVID-19 vaccine's second dose months earlier. 

Dolsten added that Pfizer plans to request the Food and Drug Administration for emergency authorization of a third dose in August, PTI quoted the report as saying. 

Delta strain, believed to have been first detected in India, is becoming dominant globally, raising concerns. 

Meanwhile, it was found that the first dose of the Pfizer or AstraZeneca ‘barely’ inhibits the Delta variant. As per researchers from France's Pasteur Institute, in laboratory tests, blood from several dozen people given their first dose of the Pfizer or AstraZeneca vaccines 'barely inhibited' the Delta variant, as per the report in journal Nature, adding that full vaccination is critical.

In another study, researchers in Britain found two doses of the Pfizer vaccine are 96% protective against hospitalization with the delta variant and 88% effective against symptomatic infection.  Canadian researchers had also concurred with the study, while as per a report from Israel, protection against mild delta infection may have dipped lower, to 64%, the AP reported. 

Closer to home, India is likely to receive 3 to 4 million doses of the Pfizer and Moderna COVID-19 vaccine shots through COVAX, led by the GAVI vaccine alliance and the World Health Organization (WHO), Reuters reported. The country aims to boost its vaccination drive amid the threat of a possible third COVID-19 wave. 

On the other hand, the world achieved a grom milestone as the global COVID-19 death toll surpassed the grim milestone of 4 million-mark, Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins University reported. 

(With agency inputs)