In a shift of practices in the US, Britain plans to give people the second doses of the coronavirus vaccines within 12 weeks of their first shot rather than within 21 days, in order to accelerate vaccinations in as many people as possible. The practice elicits criticism from experts around the world.
“It’s an act of desperation. It is also contrary to scientific protocols, ‘Israeli epidemiologist Ron Balicer said in an interview with Channel 12 on Saturday, stressing that it is unknown how effective a single dose is in treating the elderly and people at high risk against the disease. to protect virus.
More than a million people in the UK have already received their first pfizer vaccine. Earlier this week, Britain also approved a vaccine developed by the University of Oxford and the British pharmaceutical firm AstraZeneca, which is significantly cheaper and easier to use.
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British authorities then outlined the new dosing regimen, which delays a person’s second vaccine shot from being done at three weeks to 12 weeks after the first shot. According to The New York Times, the British health authorities were also given permission to combine the vaccines should a second dose by one of the companies not be available.
A nurse prepares for a screening of the Pfizer BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine at Guy’s Hospital in London, UK, 8 December 2020. (Frank Augstein / AP)
‘In the short term, the additional increase in vaccine efficacy from the second dose is likely to be modest. The vast majority of initial protection against clinical diseases is after the first dose of vaccination, ‘said British medical officials.
The UK plans to abolish vaccinations on Monday with 530,000 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine and has set the goal of vaccinating 2 million people a week as soon as possible.
The new plan nevertheless received criticism. The UK Medical Association has warned that the delay in the second dose is causing major scheduling problems for thousands of elderly and vulnerable people who have been partially vaccinated.
“It is extremely unfair to tens of thousands of our patients at greatest risk to now try to reschedule their appointments,” said Richard Vautrey of the British Medical Association.
In response to the intention to mix the vaccines – a practice banned by the CDC – John Moore, a vaccine expert at Cornell University, told The New York Times that British officials “apparently left science completely now. and just try to guess them. away from a mess. ”
The UK set a daily record for new coronavirus infections on Saturday – 57,725 – and it looks like it will soon overtake Italy again to become the worst-hit country in Europe, with nearly 75,000 COVID-19 deaths. The fear is that the increase in infections will also increase the number of deaths in the coming weeks.
The United Kingdom has recorded its five highest daily new infection rates in the past five days – all more than 50,000 and being double from just a few weeks ago.