Valeriu Gheorghita stated that the third dose of the vaccine against the Coronavirus could only be administered to people with immunosuppressed diseases, but vaccinating the entire population with the third dose does not seem to be something that the authorities want to do in 2022.
"Certainly the validity, from the point of view of disease risk, is given by the data that are accumulated, are collected in terms of the protection offered by the current vaccines. From the existing data, at the moment, 6 months, 8 months after completing the vaccination scheme, the benefits in terms of protection against severe forms, against complications, against the risk of hospitalization and death of over 90% are maintained – 95%, so the benefits are preserved.
Looking at certain population groups, there is a tendency for the antibody response to decrease in certain categories of people, such as the immunocompromised. If the question arises of administering the third dose, it is very likely that the option will not be to revaccinate the entire population, but to possibly administer the third dose to or for certain population segments, which have not had a increased level of immune response after the full regimen. This does not mean that we must necessarily dose the antibody titer.
Certain categories of chronic conditions are known to be associated with a lower likelihood of developing a high level of antibodies, but at the moment they are, if you will, absolutely preliminary assessments. There are no scientific data available to provide us with information related to safety, tolerability and immunogenicity, and the role of the third dose, in addition to covering certain population categories at risk, is also to ensure possible vaccine coverage if we will have strains, mutant viral variants that will not be covered by current vaccines. So there are two important actions; on the one hand, the strengthening of the immune response through the third dose in certain population categories at risk and, on the other hand, we are talking about the third dose with vaccines adapted to mutant viral variants."
