The US government is considering using the recommended second dose of approved COVID-19 vaccines to vaccinate more people during a first round, according to Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.
” I still think, if you do it right, you can do a single dose, discuss doses for the second dose, and still do the job, ” Fauci said on NBC’s Today Show on Thursday. ” But there are a lot of discussions about whether you want to spread the initial vaccination by having more people vaccinated in the first round. ‘
Of the two approved vaccines, both are 95% effective. But for the efficacy rate, Pfizer’s injection requires a second dose 21 days after the first and Moderna 28 days after the initial injection.
Currently, the federal government is withholding some of the vaccines received for the recommended second dose. But the current discussion is to scrap the plan, Fauci said.
“One of the problems with doing this is if you do not get the second dose on time, you will have a delay period,” he said. ” And we know from the clinical trial that the best time is to give it in one day, then for Moderna 28 days later and for Pfizer 21 days later. This is what the data tells us to do. So if you want to stick to the data, you have to do it. ‘
Fauci was uncompromising on his recommendation and said: ” You could have debated it somehow. ‘
Fauci conceded that since only 2.8 million of the 14 million doses administered were injected, the U.S. government missed its goal of inoculating 20 million by the end of the year. However, he expects the pace to increase in January.
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