Panama scientists nix need for booster vaccination

Panamanian scientists have joined, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and the CDC in declaring that, for now, a third dose of Covid-19 vaccines is not necessary.

Javier Nieto, former director of the Gorgas Memorial Institute, stressed that in the current local context what is needed is to quickly vaccinate the bulk of the population with the first and second doses. Ortega, advisor to the Panama Covid-19 Vaccine Research Consortium, stressed that it is a “premature” issue and that an additional dose to the two already established is not necessary at this time.

The scientific community focused its debate on the announcement by the Pfizer and BioNTech laboratories that they would seek regulatory authorization for a third dose of their Covid-19 vaccine.

For now, Panama has opted for this treatment against the virus and has contracted for7 million doses, of which almost 1.4 million have arrived in the country, and of those 1.2 million have been applied.

One of the reasons given by Pfizer for proposing a third dose is that it increases the levels of antibodies – 5 to 10 times more – against the original strain of the coronavirus and the Beta variant – found for the first time in South Africa .

It also believes that a third dose will act in a similar way against the highly contagious Delta variant, which is becoming dominant worldwide.

However, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), as well as the United States Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), issued a statement in which they minimize the need for a third dose.

“Americans who have been fully vaccinated do not need a booster shot at this time,” both regulators noted, adding that they are involved in a “rigorous science-based process” to determine if a third more dose will be needed.

In addition, they emphasized that the current vaccination cycle, that is, the two doses, is effective. “People who are fully vaccinated are protected from the severe form of the disease and death, even from the variants currently circulating in the country, such as Delta,” they concluded.

Javier Nieto, a pediatric infectious disease specialist and former director of the Gorgas Memorial Institute, said that in the current local context what is needed is to vaccinate the “bulk” of the population with the first and second time. “To dilute in discussing third doses is to blur that objective,” he said.

In the words of the scientist, this is a debate that takes place in countries such as Israel, the United Kingdom, or the United States, where most of the population has completed their vaccination cycle,

In the case of Panama, we must focus on completing the vaccination schedule in those who have not received any dose of the Pfizer vaccine.

Currently, 602,631 people in Panama have completed their vaccination cycle,  This number represents 14.3% of the total population, although authorities of the Ministry of Health hope to intensify the immunization process between July and September when 5 million doses arrive.

The Minister of Health, Luis Francisco Sucre, said they hope to have herd immunity – between 70% and 80% of the vaccinated population by year-end.

Pediatric infectious disease specialist Xavier Sáez-Llorens pointed out that the scientific community, in consensus, after examining the evidence on immunity and effectiveness of vaccines in the real world against viral variants.

“Meanwhile, it is urgent to vaccinate the majority of the world’s population to avoid more deaths and hospitalizations and mitigate the emergence of more mutations. Pharmaceutical companies are not the ones determining public health strategies. Any initiative must first go through a scientific research protocol.“

The European Medicines Agency (EMA) stressed that it is “too early” to say if more than two injections of the Covid-19 vaccine are needed because there is no indication that people who received two doses of the vaccine need a booster.