Antibodies

Who really needs a third Pfizer shot?

Do Americans need a third booster shot of the Pfizer vaccine? The question is the subject of a remarkable row between the drugs company and the government β€” the former of which is putting together an application for emergency use authorization for a third dose and the latter of which has so far proved unwilling to sanction it. The Department of Health and Human Services issued a statement after a meeting on Monday saying: β€˜At this time fully-vaccinated Americans do not need a booster shot.’ For its own part, Pfizer cites evidence from Israel which, thanks to a deal with Pfizer, was able to get ahead in its vaccination program in return for the country effectively being used as a giant human laboratory.

third shot pfizer

How to work out the real COVID death toll

Maybe the most important questions of all: how lethal is SARS-COV-2? Whom does it kill? Are the death counts accurate — and, if not, are they over- or understated? Estimates for the lethality of the coronavirus have varied widely since January. Early Chinese data suggested the virus might have an ‘infection fatality rate’ as high as 1.4-2 percent. A death rate in that range could mean the coronavirus might kill more than six million Americans, although even under the worst-case scenarios some people would not be exposed, and others might have natural immunity that would prevent them from being infected at all. As we have learned more about the virus, estimates of its lethality have fallen.

covid