Pfizer is calling four months of protection against the virus “long-term” though data show waning efficacy after six months.
QUICK FACTS:
- Pfizer Inc. said on Monday its experimental Covid-19 vaccine “provided strong long-term protection against the virus in a late-stage study conducted among adolescents aged 12 to 15 years,” according to Reuters.
- The pharmaceutical company claims a “two-dose series of the vaccine was 100% effective against COVID-19.”
- “These are the first and only disclosed longer-term data demonstrating the safety and efficacy of a Covid- 19 vaccine in individuals 12 to 15 years of age,” Ugur Sahin, CEO and co-founder of BioNTech, said in a statement.
- Reuters notes this data “will support planned submissions for full-regulatory approval of the vaccine in the age group in the United States and worldwide.”
- However, what Pfizer is calling “long-term” is in reality based on only “seven days through over four months after the second dose” of protection efficacy tracking, according to the Reuters report.
- The fact that Pfizer only tracked test participants’ immunity for four months is significant because recent studies have shown a gradual “declining trend in vaccine efficacy” over 6 months after two doses of the Pfizer vaccine in more than 45,000 people worldwide.
- In fact, Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla himself stated in July that the efficacy of Pfizer’s coronavirus vaccine steadily declines to about 84% about six months after a second dose, CNBC reports.
