Pfizer to study booster shot aimed at virus variant

Both Pfizer and Moderna have now laid out strategies for adapting vaccines for the variants.

Pfizer is studying whether a third shot, 6 to 12 months later, will fight the variants, avoiding the need for an updated vaccine. But it’s working on an updated vaccine too, just in case.

“While we have not seen any evidence that the circulating variants result in a loss of protection provided by our vaccine, we are taking multiple steps to act decisively and be ready in case a strain becomes resistant to the protection afforded by the vaccine,” said Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla.

Moderna said Wednesday that it has sent doses of an updated vaccine against the South African variant to the National Institutes of Health for study.

In more Pfizer news, it will also be easier to store that vaccine, as the FDA approves storage at standard freezer temps

The Food and Drug Administration on Thursday approved storing Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine at standard freezer temperatures, helping ease storage requirements that could make delivery of the vaccine easier.

The Pfizer vaccine had previously been required to be stored in ultra-cold freezers at -112º F to -76º F. That posed a challenge for distribution of the vaccine in rural areas or lower income countries that do not have widespread ultra-cold storage capability.

The new move will allow the vaccine to be stored at “conventional temperatures commonly found in pharmaceutical freezers for a period of up to two weeks.”

“This alternative temperature for transportation and storage of the undiluted vials is significant and allows the vials to be transported and stored under more flexible conditions,” Peter Marks, a top FDA vaccine official, said in a statement.