The campaign for the booster dose of the Covid-19 vaccine has already started. But a question arises: is it better to use Pfizer or Moderna?
Now the appointment for the third dose of the Covid-19 vaccine has been opened. Obviously, when booking this reminder, many are asking the fateful question: Pfizer or Moderna? Which is better to favor? According to France Info, which looked into the subject, Moderna would tend to be slightly more effective in terms of protection. Indeed, according to studies published in the New England Journal of Medicine, five months after the injection of the two doses, the Moderna vaccine protects a little more against the risks of contamination and hospitalizations. To reach this conclusion, the researchers followed nearly 40,000 people between January and September 2021. At the end of this period, the proportion of infected people was lower on the side of Moderna.
“We have a little more antibodies with the Moderna than with the Pfizer, which was expected, because the Moderna is a little more dosed than the Pfizer“Says Professor Jean-Louis Montastruc, head of the pharmacology department at Toulouse University Hospital to France Info. The explanation is quite simple: a dose of Moderna contains 100 micrograms of vaccine, when Pfizer contains 30, as noted. The media.
Can we “mix” the vaccines for the booster dose?
Well yes, we can mix the different recipes for the third dose. According to France Info, it would even be beneficial. Particularly in the event of a first vaccination with AstraZeneca: “It is not impossible that making a messenger RNA vaccine after doing a Jannssen or AstraZeneca type vaccine could further improve the immune response.“, clarifies Dominique Deplanque, president of the French Society of Pharmacology and Therapeutics still with France Info.”The immune response will be based on the “foreign substance” presented to the immune system. If this “foreign substance” is only partially identical to that of the first injection, this expands the repertoire of the immune response.“
For a Pfizer and Moderna “mix”, the professionals interviewed by France Info see no contraindication since they are both messenger RNA vaccines.