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LONDON — Chief medical officers from the four U.K. nations have this evening presented in detail the reasons for postponing scheduled second doses of the BioNTech/Pfizer coronavirus vaccine, after doctors said today it was unfair to patients and operationally untenable.
In an emailed letter from the Department of Health and Social Care, they said they wanted to “lay out the scientific and public health rationale,” noting that, “it is about balance of risks and benefits.”
The main barrier to maximizing the number of people who receive the vaccine is supply, they write. It’s a “global issue … [which] will remain the case for several months and, importantly, through the critical winter period,” they added.
Based on available data, the CMOs are “confident” that both the Pfizer or AstraZeneca vaccines provide “substantial protection within 2-3 weeks of vaccination for clinical disease, and in particular severe COVID disease.” They refer to latest data published by the U.K.’s Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunization today.
Vaccinating twice the number of vulnerable people in the next two-three months and offering up to 70 percent protection, “is obviously much more preferable in public health terms,” than half those people gaining a marginal increase in protection.
The second dose is likely to be “very important for duration of protection, and at an appropriate dose interval may further increase vaccine efficacy,” they write. “The JCVI is confident 12 weeks is a reasonable dosing interval to achieve good longer-term protection.”
Doctors today called on the government to justify the change in strategy. Some pointed out it would take weeks to reschedule thousands of appointments, and was unfair to vulnerable people
The CMOs said they recognize this is “operationally very difficult.”
The news comes as the National Health Service reports over 1 million U.K. citizens have received the first dose of BioNTech/Pfizer’s jab, approved on December 8.
A statement from the World Health Organization this evening said it had also approved the jab, under its Emergency Use Listing (EUL), opening the door for countries to expedite their own regulatory approval processes to import and administer the vaccine.
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