"Antibody levels are dropping seven months after immunization among some vaccine recipients," said BioNTech CEO Ugur Sahin. His company helped develop a coronavirus vaccine with American big pharma company Pfizer.
Sahin's statement is part of a wider push by pharmaceutical executives to sell people on the supposed need for a third booster dose of the coronavirus vaccine. The goal here is not to protect people against COVID-19, but for pharmaceutical companies like Pfizer and BioNTech to keep profiting off people's fear of getting infected.
The BioNTech CEO made his recent comments regarding the alleged immunizing effect of his company's vaccine after preliminary data emerged from Israel showing that people who received the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine in January were three times more likely to get infected than those who got vaccinated in May.
The data showed that the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine was only 39 percent effective in preventing COVID-19 infections between late June and early July, when the post-vaccine delta variant became more common in Israel.
In early May, Sahin previously stated that a third dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine will be necessary after a year, and annual booster doses will be necessary every 12 to 18 months after.
Sahin's counterpart in Pfizer, CEO Alberta Bourla, has also been pushing for people to get a booster dose 12 months after becoming fully vaccinated.
Sahin said that governments around the world now need to decide whether they want to administer a third dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, supposedly to boost immunity. He said the options governments have are booster doses or allowing "controlled infections" to rampage among a country's vaccinated population.
Chief Medical Advisor to the White House Dr. Anthony Fauci recently suggested that a booster dose of the COVID-19 vaccine is necessary for people with "weaker immune systems."
"Those are the kind of individuals that, if there's going to be a third booster, which might likely happen, would be among the first, the vulnerable," said Fauci. (Related: IT NEVER ENDS: Anthony Fauci says booster dose of coronavirus vaccine will be necessary in the future.)
In the debate regarding the need for booster doses, Sahin said the ideal case would be if the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine is available in the market.
Because the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine has only been approved for emergency use, it can only be sold to governments. Sahin wants the vaccine to be authorized for broad use and become available for private purchases.
"When the vaccine becomes available on the free market everyone will be able to make this decision for themselves," said Sahin.
Currently, only one country in the world has begun offering a third dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine: Israel.
In early July, Israeli Minister of Health Nitzan Horowitz said that adults with impaired immune systems who have already received two doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine could get a third booster dose.
Horowitz added that the Israeli government is still examining whether to authorize booster doses for the wider public. The country's current concern is keeping its supply of Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines up. The country's prime minister has already spoken with Pfizer executives about pushing forward its next scheduled shipment of vaccines.
Aside from Israel, no other national government is offering a third dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine. But the provincial government of Quebec in Canada is offering an extra dose of either the Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna vaccines.
The Ministry of Health and Social Services of Quebec said it will provide one of the two mRNA vaccines for people who want to travel to countries that do not recognize either vaccine.
Learn more about the combined push by big pharma and governments to require booster doses by reading the latest articles at Vaccines.news.
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