The corpus of the (t, p) and (p, t) data around 208Pb is used to check the predictions of the pairing vibrational model. The wave functions associated with the pair addition and pair removal modes were calculated by diagonalizing monopole and multipole pairing forces in the Tamm-Dancoff and in the random phase approximation. The multiphonon wave functions obtained as renormalized product states of these wave functions, eliminating Pauli principle violating components, give a rather accurate description of the data. These “weak coupling” wave functions, which take into account in an approximate way the anharmonicities in the pairing channel, compare well with the wave functions obtained by a standard shell-model diagonalization of monopole and multipole pairing forces, and with wave functions calculated in a two-quasiparticle basis.