Faced with the increased threat from a new variant and a health service under pressure, the UK’s top medical officers lengthened the gap between doses to allow more people to receive the first dose and therefore a certain level of protection.
A gap of 12 weeks, however, is a big difference to other jurisdictions and advice since set out by the WHO (the EU allows up to six weeks between doses; the US has said it will keep to the 3-4 week gap advised by manufacturers of its authorized vaccines; and the WHO says six weeks in exceptional situations for Pfizer/BioNTech).
Spacing out doses
The two main authorized vaccines in the UK are from Pfizer/BioNTech and AstraZeneca. While the strategy of spacing out doses has allowed the country to administer the first dose of the vaccine to a large number of people (6.8 million doses at the latest count, representing around 10% of the population), a 12 week delay for the second dose has not been backed up by clinical data to confirm efficacy.
The majority of participants in the Pfizer/BioNTech trials were given the second dose after a set 21 days (a small number of participants received the 2nd dose up to 42 days later). The WHO, consequently, has said that the second dose of the vaccine should be delivered 21-28 days apart, although can be delivered up to six weeks after in exceptional situations.
With the AstraZeneca vaccine, clinical trials looked at a variety of delays between doses (the WHO has not issued a position on dosage delays for this vaccine).
The UK's strategy of spacing out doses was set out at the end of December, with the WHO since publishing its advice on Pfizer/BioNTech on January 7. In light of the WHO recommendations - and with supplies of the vaccine under pressure across Europe - BMA has now written to the UK’s Chief Medial Officer to seek an ‘urgent review’ of the UK’s 12 week delay with this vaccine.
"urgent" - Google News
January 25, 2021 at 07:23PM
https://ift.tt/3plxdq8
UK doctors ask for 'urgent review' of COVID-19 vaccine second dose delay - BioPharma-Reporter.com
"urgent" - Google News
https://ift.tt/2ya063o
https://ift.tt/3d7MC6X
urgent
Bagikan Berita Ini
0 Response to "UK doctors ask for 'urgent review' of COVID-19 vaccine second dose delay - BioPharma-Reporter.com"
Post a Comment