It will only be tested on people 55 years of age or younger. Pfizer hopes to be able to request its authorization as early as March.
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Towards a new weapon against Covid-19? Pfizer and BioNTech have announced the start of recruiting volunteers for a clinical trial of a new version of their messenger RNA vaccine, tailored to better protect against the Omicron variant and its ability to evade the immune response.
The trial is to include 1,420 people, aged 18 to 55. A Pfizer spokesperson justified to AFP the choice not to include older people by the fact that the trial does not aim to estimate the effectiveness of the vaccine, but its ability to raise the immune response of attendees.
The participants are divided into three groups: people who received two doses of Pfizer’s vaccine between 90 and 180 days ago, and will receive one or two injections of its adapted version; people who have received a booster dose, and who will receive a new dose either of the first vaccine or of its new version; and finally non-vaccinated people, who will receive three doses of the vaccine adapted to Omicron.
Pfizer boss Albert Bourla said in early January that the pharmaceutical giant could be ready to seek approvals for the new vaccine as early as March.
The two companies ensure that this approach is not contradictory with the assertion that the current version of their vaccine remains effective against Omicron after three doses. “We recognize the importance of being prepared in the event that this protection wanes over time, and to help address Omicron and other variants in the future”says the head of vaccines at Pfizer, Kathrin Jansen.