--- title: Pfizer-BioNTech Report 'Encouraging' Data on Booster Shots description: Pfizer and BioNTech say they are are also working on a vaccine to specifically target the Delta variant. canonical: https://time.com/6079002/pfizer-biontech-covid-booster-shots/ author: Alice Park article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2021-07-08T21:57:43.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-24T10:06:07.061Z article:section: Health og:title: Pfizer-BioNTech Report "Encouraging" Data from Booster Studies og:description: Pfizer and BioNTech say they are are also working on a vaccine to specifically target the Delta variant. og:url: https://time.com/6079002/pfizer-biontech-covid-booster-shots/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt36a519714dc3f93c/698a1af20116823a4d980c45/GettyImages-1233844855.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1024 og:image:height: 576 og:image:alt: Coronavirus - model project of VW and DRK og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Pfizer-BioNTech Report "Encouraging" Data from Booster Studies twitter:description: Pfizer and BioNTech say they are are also working on a vaccine to specifically target the Delta variant. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt36a519714dc3f93c/698a1af20116823a4d980c45/GettyImages-1233844855.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Pfizer-BioNTech Report 'Encouraging' Data on the Efficacy of Booster Shots > Sponsored content. 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Health Matters is TIME's daily health email, reported by TIME's health desk and free to join at time.com/newsletters. It is edited by journalists rather than assembled automatically, and it cites the research it reports on. #### Is Health Matters free? Yes. Health Matters is a free daily newsletter from TIME, available at time.com/newsletters. #### Who reads TIME's Health Matters newsletter? Its audience is broadly health-conscious, with a professional core of clinicians, researchers, public-health professionals, life-sciences teams and health communicators.  by [Alice Park](https://time.com/author/alice-park/)  ## Alice Park Senior Correspondent Jul 8, 2021 9:57 PM UTC  07 July 2021, Saxony, Dresden: In front of the Transparent Factory, a VW Saxony company doctor in a camper van that has been converted into a vaccination vehicle holds a tray with a syringe containing the active ingredient Comirnaty from Biontech/Pfizer against the coronavirus to vaccinate an employee. From now on, the vaccination offer will also be extended to family members of Volkswagen employees as well as former VW employees in retirement within the framework of the model project of VW and the DRK Saxony. Photo: Robert Michael/dpa-Zentralbild/dpa (Photo by Robert Michael/picture alliance via Getty Images) 07 July 2021, Saxony, Dresden: In front of the Transparent Factory, a VW Saxony company doctor in a camper van that has been converted into a vaccination vehicle holds a tray with a syringe containing the active ingredient Comirnaty from Biontech/Pfizer against the coronavirus to vaccinate an employee. From now on, the vaccination offer will also be extended to family members of Volkswagen employees as well as former VW employees in retirement within the framework of the model project of VW and the DRK Saxony. Photo: Robert Michael/dpa-Zentralbild/dpa (Photo by Robert Michael/picture alliance via Getty Images) Robert Michael—picture alliance/Getty Images  by [Alice Park](https://time.com/author/alice-park/)  ## Alice Park Senior Correspondent Jul 8, 2021 9:57 PM UTC Pfizer-BioNTech said in a statement on July 8 that data from studies looking at the effects of a booster shot of its COVID-19 vaccine are “encouraging.” The companies are testing a third dose of its two-dose regimen—currently permitted by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) under an emergency use authorization—to see how effective the added shot might be in controlling variants of SARS-CoV-2 that are now overtaking the original virus that the vaccines were targeting. Early data from those studies showed that a booster dose, given six months after the second dose, triggers five to 10 times the level of virus-neutralizing antibodies as the two-dose shots against the original virus and against the Beta variant, which was first identified in South Africa. That’s reassuring given a recent statement from Israeli health officials saying that they’ve seen the level of vaccine-induced protection from the two-shot Pfizer-BioNTech regimen start to decline after about six months. Part of that may have to do with the rise of the Delta variant, which is more transmissible; adding another dose could increase the longevity of high-level immunity. The Pfizer-BioNTech studies do not directly address the Delta variant, which is now the dominant version of the virus in the U.S., but the companies say they are also developing a new vaccine designed specifically to target the Delta version of the virus. The companies are also testing a vaccine they developed against the Beta variant and expect data from those studies in coming months. The two companies plan to submit their booster data to the FDA to request that a third dose be added to the current regimen. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/6079002/pfizer-biontech-covid-booster-shots/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/6079002/pfizer-biontech-covid-booster-shots/"},"headline":"Pfizer-BioNTech Report 'Encouraging' Data on the Efficacy of Booster Shots","datePublished":"2021-07-08T21:57:43.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-24T10:06:07.061Z","description":"The two companies also reported that they are developing a Delta variant vaccine","url":"https://time.com/6079002/pfizer-biontech-covid-booster-shots/","keywords":["COVID-19"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt36a519714dc3f93c/698a1af20116823a4d980c45/GettyImages-1233844855.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Alice Park","jobTitle":"Senior Correspondent","url":"https://time.com/author/alice-park/"}],"articleSection":"Health","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt36a519714dc3f93c/698a1af20116823a4d980c45/GettyImages-1233844855.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Coronavirus - model project of VW and DRK","caption":"Coronavirus - model project of VW and DRK","creditText":"Robert Michael—picture alliance/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/health/","name":"Health"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/covid-19/","name":"COVID-19"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/6079002/pfizer-biontech-covid-booster-shots/","name":"Pfizer-BioNTech Report 'Encouraging' Data on the Efficacy of Booster Shots"}}]}] ```