How is America preparing to fight against the changed omicron, and how is Lithuania: prof. A. Sparrow tips
Residents of Lithuania aged 60 and older, as well as persons suffering from diseases, can be vaccinated against COVID-19. However, vaccines for the latest strain of the virus should be available in late August or early September. What did it change? How is Lithuania preparing for autumn, and how is America? Aurelija Žvirblienė, professor of the Life Sciences Center of Vilnius University (VU), talks about our country’s calculations, risk groups and neighbor’s advice.
America has already secured a reserve
The US government secured 66 million Moderna’s bivalent booster vaccine against COVID-19 mRNA-1273.222 doses of Spikevax™ and omikron BA.4 and BA.5 subtypes target mRNA. According to the contract, it is planned to allocate up to 1.74 million USD 66 million mRNA-1273.222 doses to be manufactured and delivered, as well as an option to purchase up to 234 million more from Moderna. doses of COVID-19 vaccine boosters.
“We are pleased to extend our successful collaboration with the US government,” said Stephane Bancel, Chief Executive Officer of Moderna. Moderna’s mRNA platform enables the rapid development of mRNA-1273.222, a bivalent vaccine specifically designed to target the BA.4 and BA.5 subtypes of the omicron strain currently prevalent in the United States. We remain fully committed to leveraging our innovative technology platform to deliver tailored vaccines to help protect communities against COVID-19.”
in 2022 July 11 Moderna has announced that it is developing bivalent vaccine candidates for the fall, based on countries covering different population health strategies. mRNA-1273.2222 is considered to be an omikron BA.4 and BA.5 subtyping strain for which, according to the latest US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recommendations, mRNA-1273.214 is a omikron BA.1 subtyping strain that may be useful for WHO . These updated bivalent vaccines, if approved, could provide greater, broader, and longer-lasting protection against COVID-19.
Calculations are complicated by many unknowns
Aurelija Žvirblienė of Vilnius University (Professor of VU Life Sciences Center) said that it is not easy to predict how much a country should purchase a vaccine against the coronavirus, so Lithuania will also rely on the experience of influenza vaccines.
“Vaccines must be ordered now – this is a very difficult task, because it is difficult to predict how people will want to be vaccinated. There are no Possibilities Passports planned for autumn, which create a certain pressure, no restrictions are planned for those who have not been vaccinated, so people will have free will to make a decision whether they need to be vaccinated. It is still necessary to assess the fact that people have already gotten sick from the omikron strain, and experts believe that the fourth dose would not work for them. Therefore, when making calculations, it is based on how many people in Lithuania are usually vaccinated with the flu vaccine, which is also the most necessary for persons in the risk group. This number is about 120 thousand. per year. Of course, it is very important to insure that there will not be enough vaccines for everyone who wants them, so this number will be increased, let’s say, three times”, said the VU professor.
At the moment, only the vaccine that overcomes the virus of the original variant can be vaccinated in Lithuania. Adapted vaccines are planned to appear only in late August – early September. Prof. A. Sparrows, rather the largest omikron strain BA.1 subtype vaccine, but this variant of the virus is no longer spreading in our country and other European countries, it has been replaced by omikron BA.4 and BA.5 subtypes.
“And although vaccines are already being developed, the technology is clear, but clinical studies take more than a few – thus vaccines can no longer catch up with new variants. Therefore, to speed up the process, the US Food and Drug Administration and the European Medicines Agency are considering allowing the BA.4 and BA.5 subtype vaccine to be registered without clinical trials, based on the fact that the previous vaccine variants have been tested. We do not know how the public will accept this news, but we openly share everything we know – both American and European experts do not see the special risks due to this. The vaccines will have the same composition, only the RNA sequence that encodes the S protein of the newer virus will be changed – that’s the only difference, all other components basically. Since a lot of people have already been vaccinated with these vaccines in the world, really a lot, that’s why there are no special risks. Every year, we vaccinate with a new flu vaccine adapted to the new season, and thus there is no need to do clinical trials every year either – the production technology of these vaccines is well tested, standardized, the vaccines are safe,” said the VU professor.
When receiving vaccinations, the neighbor advises not to look at the individual, after consulting with the family doctor, after assessing health and co-morbidities – that is, whether one falls into a risk group for which vaccination is recommended in order to prevent illness or the course of a serious illness.
“The risk of having a serious disease is in the sick, older age – if in doubt, talk to your family doctor. If, however, you are a young person and you do not have any diseases, you should not be vaccinated yet, international organizations have not made such recommendations at the moment. The issue of getting sick is also important. We, specialists, believe that if you get sick with the omicron variant this year, in 2022, vaccination is also not necessary, because you have at least partial protection against the currently spreading omicron subtypes,” the professor summarized.
See original on the source website accesswire.com
https://www.accesswire.com/710243/Moderna-Announces-New-Supply-Contract-With-The-US-Government-For- Home-66-Million-Doses-A-Moderna-Bivalent-Covid-19-Booster-Vaccine-With-Options-For-US-Government- Acquire-up-to-additional-234-million-doses
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