A couple of researchers in a letter published Wednesday by the New England Journal of Medicine argued that the second dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccine could be delayed, despite previous opposition to that move by health authorities.
In the letter, Researchers based in Canada Danuta Skowronski and Gaston De Serres argued that, based on the analysis of documents submitted by Pfizer to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the vaccine has an efficacy rate of approximately 92.6% after the first dose. .
The Pfizer vaccine, which is currently authorized to be given in two doses 21 days apart, reported a 94.8% effectiveness against COVID-19 after two doses.
Given the relatively small increase in the rate of efficacy between the first and second doses, the authors argued in the letter that “the benefits of a scarce supply of vaccine could be maximized by postponing the second doses until ‘offer at least one dose to all members of the priority group “.
The authors acknowledged that while “there may be uncertainty about the duration of protection with a single dose,” the second dose weeks after the first “provides little added benefit in the short term, while people with high risk that they could have received a first dose with this vaccine the supply is left completely unprotected “.
The investigators further argued that “postponing the second dose is a matter of national security that, if ignored, will result in thousands of Covid-19-related hospitalizations and deaths this winter in the United States, hospitalizations and deaths that would have been prevented with a first dose of vaccine “.
The medical journal also published Pfizer’s response to the letter, in which the pharmaceutical manufacturer noted that “alternative dosing regimens” for its vaccine have not yet been properly evaluated.
“The decision to implement alternative dosing regimes rests with the health authorities,” Pfizer continued. “However, at Pfizer we believe it is critical that health authorities monitor alternative dosing programs implemented to ensure that vaccines provide the highest possible protection.”
The letters come as experts remain divided on whether to delay second doses of coronavirus vaccines to allow more people in high-priority groups to receive protection more quickly against COVID-19.
Anthony Fauci
Anthony Fauci: Many of the best players in the NBA fear the promotion of vaccines against COVID-19: the White House report says there is no need to make vaccines for teachers for schools to reopen CNN’s John Berman, White House aide in the reopening of schools: MORE, the country’s leading expert on infectious diseases, he told NBC’s “Meet the Press” magazine on Sunday which did not agree with the experts calling for a second delayed dose, adding that more research would be needed to measure the level of long-term protection people could receive with a single dose.
“The amount of time it will take, the amount of people you would have to devote to the study: by that time, we will already be on the ground of having enough, of having enough vaccines to do it,” Fauci said. .
“But what we have right now and what we need to accompany is the scientific data that we have accumulated and it is really very solid,” he added. “We know that with each of these it’s 21 days or 28 days. You can do both. You can get so many people in their first dose at the same time that they reasonably adhere to the second dose schedule.”