Pfizer and Moderna Vaccine Similarities

Pfizer
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Pfizer
Courtesy of Governo do Estado de São Paulo (Wikimedia Public Domain)

The Food and Drug Administration’s external review board voted against a third Pfizer dose for the overall public on Sept. 22, 2021. However, they did endorse the third shot for older adults and high-risk groups. But the query of who needs a booster remains open.

In the study of the opportunity of a third mRNA dose, an essential query arises whether people need the third dose of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccine. Or simply Pfizer people, meaning there is a difference between the significance of their safety towards COVID-19.

Pfizer and Moderna are the same in that if Pfizer is effective against a variant, so is Moderna. While their mRNA are similar, they are not identical. For example, there are subtleties between their chemical structure. The vaccines also are given on a different schedule, with Moderna doses four weeks apart and Pfizer three weeks. And finally, Pfizer was approved in the United States and across the world months before Moderna.

Similarities Between the Vaccines

At first, those small variations didn’t have an effect on vaccine effectiveness. Both vaccines have been extraordinarily excellent at shielding asymptomatic, moderate, mild, and intense disorders. But the tale is probably changing.

Last month, the Mayo Clinic launched a preprint study of 645,109 patients vaccinated between January–July 2021 to compare how the vaccines are holding up in comparison with unvaccinated patients. They discovered that each vaccine did an excellent treatment against hospitalization, ICU admission, and death. 

The effectiveness towards any infection decreased in July by 67 percent in comparison with the 86 percent in January. Interestingly, Pfizer’s effectiveness decreased faster over time compared to patients vaccinated with the Moderna vaccine. Nonetheless, every vaccine had been a lot better at preventing infections in vaccinated patients. 

Pfizer
Inset Image by Norbert Nagel – Courtesy of Wikimedia – Creative Commons License

Vaccines Wane Over Time

In another study that tested 196 nursing home residents in Canada showed that with Pfizer there are 3.89 times fewer instances of neutralizing antibodies compared to Moderna, apparently with the beta variant from South Africa. The difference could be the higher dosage of RNA in Moderna. 

The studies had biased conclusions. While both vaccines work against hospitalization and death, will Moderna’s effectiveness ultimately begin to decline like Pfizer’s?  Will the effectiveness against severe disease decline like in Israel?

Two weeks ago, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released records indicating that the extent of safety towards Covid hospitalizations afforded through the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine dropped extensively withinside the four months after complete inoculation.

New Study After Patients Got Their Second Dose Shot

The records were released hours before the advisory committee to the Food and Drug Administration advocated authorizing boosters for recipients of the coronavirus vaccine who are 65 or older at least six months after the second one shot.

The new study revealed that four months after the patient received the vaccine, the Pfizer vaccine became ninety-one percent powerful in stopping hospitalization. Beyond 120 days, though, its effectiveness fell to 77 percent.

The Moderna vaccine became 92 percent effective against hospitalizations four months after recipients’ vaccination. Johnson & Johnson did not have enough participants to compare its overall performance, but it has been 71 percent effective in stopping hospitalization. 

Pfizer’s Effectiveness

Other research has proven that Pfizer’s effectiveness towards hospitalization has remained above ninety percent, despite the spread of the Delta variant. It stated that Israel and the United States define severe disease differently.  CDC’s evaluation was based on 3,700 adults hospitalized throughout America from March to August.

People with compromised immune systems, who generally don’t properly respond to vaccines, had been excluded. Nevertheless, the vaccinated patients tended to be older than the age of 68. 

Written by Janet Grace Ortigas
Edited by Sheena Robertson

Sources:

Slate: The Differences Between the Moderna and Pfizer Vaccines Are Starting to Matter; by Katelyn Jetelina  

The New York Times: Pfizer Vaccine Protection Wanes, CDC Study Shows; by Benjamin Mueller 

Top and Featured Image by Governo do Estado de São Paulo – Courtesy of Wikimedia – Creative Commons License

Inset Image by Norbert Nagel/Mörfelden-Walldorf, Germany – Courtesy of Wikimedia – Creative Commons License

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