More weight is added to the argument that top-up jabs should be administered in Spain
Just a couple of days after the Spanish government again declined to adopt any fixed policy regarding the administration of top-up or booster coronavirus vaccines in order to reinforce protection against Covid-19, further weight has been added to the argument that they are an inevitable necessity by Johnson & Johnson, the manufacturers of the mono-dose Janssen vaccine.
The multinational has presented data confirming a rapid and robust strengthening of the antibodies on administration of an additional dose, having previously published preliminary study results in the New England Journal of Medicine. The latest results indicate that the response generated by a second dose is 9 times better than that achieved 28 days after the first dose, especially in those aged between 18 and 55, while the preliminary recommendation is for a lower second dose in the over-65s.
Further analysis of test results is still required, but the tentative conclusion is that the top-up dose should be administered eight months after the first.
Sceptics will argue, of course, that the recommendations of both Johnson & Johnson and Moderna come from companies hoping to boost their own turnover and profits. But more and more medical experts are concurring with the suggestions, and earlier this year Spain’s Minister for Health, Carolina Darias, stated that continuing vaccinations are inevitable as new strains of Covid-19 emerge.
On Wednesday, though, Sra Darias again postponed any definitive decision, remaining non-committal on the questions of whether this strategy will be adopted or in which sectors of the population.
While the stance of the European Medicines Agency on this issue has yet to be defined, the Ministry of Health in Spain has commissioned two studies to determine more accurately the duration of the protection afforded by the vaccines and the phenomenon of “long Covid”. The study into the duration of vaccine protection has been prompted by a surge in outbreaks among residents of homes for the elderly and care homes, who were among the first to be inoculated early in 2021, and will be performed by the Carlos III Health Institute in Madrid.
Image: Archive
Source: Murcia Today
