Covid-19 booster jabs given at lower dosage in trial – and it may help global supply
- International trial seeks to assess the protection offered by a reduced dosage, along with mixing shots of different vaccine types
- It could help ensure a more equitable supply of vaccines, with poorer nations still struggling to obtain them, and give guidance on when boosters are needed
The Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), a global foundation that funds vaccine development, said the trials of up to 3,300 healthy adults in Australia, Indonesia and Mongolia would also shed light on mixing and matching vaccine types and whether giving fractional doses produces fewer side-effects.
“For example, results could suggest that a reduced booster dose would improve, broaden and prolong the immune response following a primary series of Covid-19 vaccination, while also putting less strain on first dose supplies,” CEPI said in a statement issued with the research lead, the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute in Australia.
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Fractional dosing has been used successfully against other diseases. In 2016, the World Health Organization (WHO) approved one-fifth doses of the yellow fever vaccine as an emergency measure during major outbreaks in Angola and the Democratic Republic of Congo. The approach was repeated during Brazil’s yellow fever vaccination campaign in 2018.