Pfizer questions UK move to lengthen gap between Covid vaccine doses

[Mary Wilson]

Sarah Neville in London and Donato Paolo Mancini in Rome
AN HOUR AGO

Pfizer has criticised the UK’s decision to lengthen the gap between doses of its Covid-19 vaccine, saying the “safety and efficacy” of the new schedule had not been evaluated, as infections and hospitalisations continued to soar across the UK.

The rare intervention by the US pharma company came amid growing controversy over the move, with doctors complaining that they were having to cancel appointments and reassure anxious patients who had previously been told they needed the second dose to keep them safe.

“[Our] study . . . was designed to evaluate the vaccine’s safety and efficacy following a two-dose schedule, separated by 21 days,” the company said. “The safety and efficacy of the vaccine has not been evaluated on different dosing schedules as the majority of trial participants received the second dose within the window specified in the study design.”

The new dosing guidelines, approved by the UK’s joint committee on vaccination and immunisation and unveiled on Wednesday, allow the second dose of both the vaccine that Pfizer developed with BioNTech, and the newly approved Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine, to be delivered as much as three months after the first.

https://www.ft.com/content/d97c72c5-ed23-4c2b-bf1c-9cc10b21f007

 

[Mary Wilson]

Delaying second Covid vaccine jab 'right thing to do', say chief medical officers

Thursday 31 December 2020, 10:43pm

Delaying second doses of the coronavirus vaccine so more people can have the first jab is the right decision to tackle “this pandemic which is running rampant in our communities”, the chief medical officers for England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have said.

In a joint statement to others in the medical profession, they said they recognised the request to reschedule second appointments is "operationally very difficult" and that it would "distress patients who were looking forward to being fully immunised".

However, the CMOs added: "We are all conscious that for every 1,000 people boosted with a second dose of Covid-19 vaccine in January (who will as a result gain marginally on protection from severe disease), 1,000 new people can’t have substantial initial protection which is in most cases likely to raise them from 0% protected to at least 70% protected.

... “These unvaccinated people are far more likely to end up severely ill, hospitalised on in some cases dying without vaccine."

https://www.itv.com/news/2020-12-31...-right-thing-to-do-say-chief-medical-officers