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The UK defended its decision to delay second doses of vaccines as the best way to fight the coronavirus, while more countries are adopting a similar strategy in a race against rising cases and new strains.
UK Health Secretary Matt Hancock said on Sunday there was much confidence that the first dose would provide “decent effectiveness” against the virus and that the country’s plan would speed up vaccinations across the country.
“You want to get as many people as maximum protection possible, as quickly as possible,” Hancock said in an interview with Sky News. “This is the way to save most lives faster.”
Governments around the world are stirring review vaccination programs as research shows that strains from the UK, South Africa and Brazil are more contagious or possibly even more lethal than the original virus. And countries are tightening restrictions on international travel, as scientists assess whether existing vaccines are so effective against variants.
Supply problems also make it difficult to deploy vaccines, which increases the pressure to give the first vaccines to as many people as possible instead of withholding doses to complete the two-course regimen earlier. Both of us AstraZeneca Plc. i Pfizer Inc. he has said they will not be able to meet delivery targets in Europe in the coming weeks, which increases the pressure to stretch existing supplies. U.S. states have also had to curb their vaccines because of difficulties in getting doses.
France on Saturday it was recommended to double the time to six weeks between the first and second shots, concluding that this would result in the inoculation of at least 700,000 more people in the first month.
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Switching to longer dosing intervals could double the number of people who gain some protection against the virus in the short term, but carry risks. It is unclear what benefits a single shot of the currently available vaccines will offer and there is a danger that mutations may thrive if immunity decreases after a first dose.
French orientation
The new French advice is for the vaccine made by Pfizer and BioNTech SE, as well as another supplied by Moderna Inc. Pfizer recommends that people receive their second dose within a three-week period, while Moderna recommends a second vaccine within four weeks.
The movement in France took place after 21 January statement from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that monitoring doses of Covid-19 vaccines could be given Until six weeks later if it is not feasible to get them within the recommended range. The US Food and Drug Administration as well offered some flexibility for “modest delays.”
Israel’s research, which leads the world in vaccinations, shows that two days after a second shot, new infections and hospitalizations fell by about 60% from the maximum. However, in an encouraging signal for the move to delay the second dose, trends began to change about two weeks after the first shot.
The UK has already extended the maximum waiting time from three weeks to 12 weeks, as the Boris Johnson government seeks to vaccinate 15 million people by mid-February. The UK is also vaccinated with the shot developed by AstraZeneca most effective when administered with a Until 12 weeks.
The UK has already administered more than 6 million doses, most in Europe and Johnson tweeted on Saturday that every shot is bringing the UK closer to defeating the virus. In France, just over a million people have been vaccinated.
Delays in dosing regimes are facing new questions from doctors, with the British Medical Association urging the UK to “urgently review” its decision, delaying the second dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine.
The BMA said in a statement that it supported the delays Until 42 days, or six weeks, citing the World Health Organization’s international guidance that this could work, but warned that Britain’s plan goes “far beyond that”.
WHO guidance
“BMA members are also concerned that, given the unpredictability of supplies, there are no guarantees that the second doses of the Pfizer vaccine will be available within 12 weeks,” the group said in a statement.
The WHO has said there is no data to support the UK move, but has said changes in dosing regimes could be justifiable in emergency situations.
According to the guidelines, according to the guide, according to the guide, according to the guide, the US CDC contains “limited data on the effectiveness” of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines beyond the six-week interval, but if the second dose is administered, “no need to restart series”.
(Updates with the study of Israel in paragraph 10)