Pfizer opens headquarters and promotes the bivalent vaccine for covid

Pfizer cut the bar for its renovated headquarters in western Mexico City. Within the framework of this inauguration, Constanza Losada, president and general director of Pfizer Mexico, and Dr. Yéssika Moreno, medical director, shared about the challenges in innovation and the near future in terms of medicines.

One of the main innovations brought about by the pandemic is the Pfizer BioNTech vaccine against Covid-19, which was developed on an innovative mRNA technology platform, this not only allowed development in record time but also adaptation to new variants.

Regarding the response to Covid-19, the laboratory reported that more than 41 million Mexicans received a vaccine against Covid-19, which has been the only one applied to minors, today there are 8.5 million adolescents (between 12 and 17 years old) and 9.3 million girls and boys (between 5 and 11 years old).

Bivalent vaccines are now ready, but these have entered into controversy. First, because although they have been in contact with the Mexican government about this adaptation for the protection of circulating variants, it has not been requested by the country’s authorities, it is the same case of the antiviral against Covid-19, whose contract has not been renovated. “At this moment we do not have any pending contract with the Mexican government,” said Losada.

A bivalent vaccine causes the immune system to create antibodies against two different types of the Covid-19 virus in the same application. For now, the only bivalent vaccines approved for use in humans are adapted versions of the Pfizer-BioNTech Comirnaty Covid-19 and Moderna Spikevax vaccines.

Regarding whether it can be purchased in person, Losada reported that the vaccine has authorization for emergency use, which means that only the Mexican government can import it and decide on its application “the Pfizer vaccine against covid is not available in the private sector”.

The bivalent vaccine has also been questioned about its effectiveness. For one, the same company Pfizer compared bivalently boosted blood samples against those of a control group of people who had received a fourth dose of the original injection. One month later, antibody levels against the generalized BA.4 and BA.5 variants were four times higher, according to their statement.

However, studies from Columbia University and Harvard University reported that bivalent boosters made by Pfizer did not appear to provide much incremental benefit. Other studies such as the one from Emory University align more with the results from Pfizer and the University of Texas at Galveston found that the bivalent injection, although it generally stimulates more antibodies against omicron than the original vaccine, does not produce robust neutralization.

This evidence is still divergent and has yet to be published in scientific journals, so more time is needed for a final answer. While this is happening, Moreno stresses that, for his part, greater effectiveness has been demonstrated against the new variants. “We absolutely recommend the bivalent vaccine for Mexico and the world, since the virus has changed.”

Regarding the cases of isolated adverse effects, he said that there is no greater risk trend at the moment and that what has been reported is no different from others, such as discomfort in the arm, fever and general malaise.

In the United States, the bivalent vaccine is available as a single booster dose at least two months after completing primary vaccination with any other licensed or approved Covid-19 vaccine.

covid vaccines in mexico

In Mexico, for the moment the vaccine available to the population is Abdalá. To date, no vaccine against Covid-19 of Cuban origin has been endorsed by the WHO. Compared to the rest, they present certain advantages in terms of handling and storage. They do not require such a rigorous refrigeration system, and they do not need specific syringes for dosing. They were designed against the strains that were circulating at the time, beta and delta, not for the family that encompasses the omicron variant.

For its part, the Patria vaccine developed by the National Council of Science and Technology (Conacyt) hand in hand with a private company still requires volunteers to continue with the clinical phase, this has delayed the publication of results so there is still no date for your availability.

nelly.toche@eleconomista.mx