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High antibody levels from Pfizer vaccine
People in England who have received two doses of Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine are generating strong antibody responses as the shot is rolled out, researchers said on Thursday, adding that confidence in vaccines was high.
An Imperial College London survey showed 87.9 per cent of people over the age of 80 tested positive for antibodies after two doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, rising to 95.5 per cent for those under the age of 60 and 100 per cent in those aged under 30.
Also read: Pfizer first dose effective after 11 days; no need of second booster: Study
Meanwhile, the first big real-world study of the Pfizer vaccine to be independently reviewed shows the shot is highly effective at preventing Covid-19.
Moderna developing booster shot for new variants
Moderna said on Wednesday it is working with US government scientists to study an experimental booster shot that targets a concerning new variant of the coronavirus, and has raised its global vaccine production goal for this year by 100 million doses.
The US biotech company has produced raw material for a booster shot aimed at addressing the virus variant first found in South Africa that may be more resistant to existing vaccines. It has shipped the vaccine to the US National Institutes of Health, which helped develop Moderna’s current vaccine, for additional study.
Moderna is experimenting with several potential ways to combat new variants of the virus.
New variant identified in New York
A new coronavirus variant that shares some similarities with a more transmissible and intractable variant discovered in South Africa is on the rise in New York City, researchers said on Wednesday.
The new variant, known as B.1.526, was first identified in samples collected in New York in November, and by mid-February represented about 12 per cent of cases, researchers at Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons said.
The variant was also described in research published online this week by the California Institute of Technology.
India's health workers baulk at homegrown vaccine
India is struggling to convince its health and front-line workers to take a home grown vaccine controversially approved without late-stage efficacy data, government data showed on Thursday, days ahead of a wider roll-out.
Also read: Bharat Biotech welcomes PM’s gesture for taking Covaxin
The country has vaccinated more than 10.5 million health and front-line workers since beginning its immunisation campaign on January 16.
But only 1.2 million, or about 11 per cent, of them have taken Covaxin, the locally developed vaccine from Bharat Biotech. The remaining 9.4 million have used the vaccine licensed fromAstraZeneca, according to a government online platform used to track the vaccination drive.
French cases spike
France’s government on Wednesday ordered a weekend lockdown in the Dunkirk area to arrest an "alarming" rise in cases,signalling extra curbs might also be needed elsewhere as dailyc ases nationwide hit their highest since November.
Unlike some of its neighbours, France has resisted a new national lockdown to control more contagious variants, hoping a curfew in place since December 15 can contain the pandemic.
But it reported 31,519 new infections on Wednesday, up from 25,018 a week ago and the most since mid-November.
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