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CEPI opens $25M Call to evaluate fractional COVID-19 booster and third shots as part of efforts to stretch global vaccine supply
Oct 11, 2021, Oslo, Norway – The Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations, or CEPI, has launched a new Call for Proposals to fund clinical trials evaluating the impact of reduced booster doses and third doses* of COVID-19 vaccines – an approach which could play an important role in stretching the global COVID-19 vaccine supply and increasing access to doses in underserved regions worldwide.

In particular, the research programme is inviting applications from individual organisations and consortia, including COVID-19 vaccine developers, to assess whether smaller doses of a single COVID-19 vaccine booster shot—as opposed to a full booster dose—would improve, broaden, and prolong the immune response following a primary series of COVID-19 vaccination, while also putting less strain on already constricted global COVID-19 vaccine supplies.

Administering smaller vaccine shots—also known as fractionation—has previously been used to maximise global vaccine supply during outbreaks of Yellow fever and Polio**.

CEPI will make up to US $25m funding available as part of the Call, with the intention to fund several clinical trials looking at dose-sparing booster shots for different COVID-19 vaccine candidates. The funding will also support trials investigating whether a third, or additional vaccine doses, administered to immunocompromised people or other demographics, for whom the primary series of vaccine did not provide enough protection from COVID-19, could also be fractional, and still provide sufficient protection. CEPI will also consider trials evaluating the use of a fractional dose of COVID-19 in participants who are ‘primed’ following previous natural infection, as well as studies providing a reduced follow-up shot to participants who have received a single-dose vaccination.

The COVID-19 vaccines to be used as fractional booster and third shots in the studies must have already received authorisation—either full licensure or emergency use authorisation—by a relevant / competent authority, or the World Health Organization (WHO). Use of COVID-19 vaccines currently in advanced stage clinical development may also be considered.

Results from the studies are set to advance the growing bank of data on the safety and immunogenicity of booster and third shots—which have already begun to be rolled out, as full doses, in some high- and middle-income nations. The findings from the CEPI-funded trials are expected to provide important data to inform the public health and scientific community, including groups like the National Immunisation Technical Advisory Groups (NITAGs) and the WHO Strategic Advisory Group of Experts on Immunization (WHO SAGE) on the potential merits of vaccinating people with fractional doses of COVID-19 vaccine.

The data generated by these trials may have multiple benefits when it comes to guiding vaccination strategies. Not only could findings show that a smaller booster or third vaccine dose will still provide an adequate immune response, and therefore has the potential to stretch global supply, but the clinical studies could also offer crucial information as to whether fractional doses of COVID-19 vaccines would also reduce side effects in vaccine recipients following administration.
https://cepi.net/news_cepi/cepi-opens-call-to-evaluate-fractional-covid-19-booster-and-third-shots-as-part-of-efforts-to-stretch-global-vaccine-supply/