LONDON (AP) – A major UK doctor group says UK government should ‘urgently revise’ its decision to give people a second dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccine up to 12 weeks after the first, rather than the shorter interval recommended by the manufacturer and the World Health Organization.
The UK, which has the deadliest coronavirus outbreak in Europe, has adopted a policy of giving as many people a first dose of vaccine as quickly as possible. So far, nearly 5.5 million people have been injected with either a vaccine made by the American drug company Pfizer and Germany’s BioNTech or a vaccine developed by the British-Swedish pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca and Oxford University.
AstraZeneca has said it believes a first dose of its vaccine will provide protection after 12 weeks, but Pfizer says it has not tested the effectiveness of its shot after such a long period.
The British Medical Association urged the UK’s Chief Medical Association on Saturday to “urgently review the current position of the second dose in the UK after 12 weeks”.
In a statement, the association said there was “growing concern among the medical community about the delay in the second dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine as Britain’s strategy has become increasingly isolated from many other countries.”
“No other country has taken the UK’s approach,” said Dr. Chaand Nagpaul, Chairman of the BMA Board, at the BBC.
He said WHO recommended that the second injection of the Pfizer vaccine could be given up to six weeks after the first injection, but only “in exceptional circumstances.”
“I understand the trade-off and the rationale, but if that was the right thing to do, we would see other countries follow suit,” Nagpaul said.
Yvonne Doyle, Medical Director of Public Health England, defended the decision as “a reasonable scientific balance based on both the supply and the protection of most people.”
Researchers in Britain have started collecting blood samples from newly vaccinated people to examine how many antibodies they produce at different intervals, from 3 weeks to 24 months, to answer the question of what timing is best for the injections.
The doctors’ concerns came a day after government medical advisers said there was evidence that a new variant of the virus first identified in South East England carries a greater risk of death than the original strain.
Chief Science Adviser Patrick Vallance said Friday “there is some evidence that there is an increased risk for those who have the new variant,” which is also more transmissible than the original virus. He said the new species could be about 30% more deadly, but stressed that “the evidence is not strong yet” and more research is needed.
Research by British scientists who advise the government While initial analyzes suggested that the strain did not cause more serious disease, several more recent analyzes suggest it did. However, the number of deaths is relatively small and the death rate is affected by many things, including the care that patients receive and their age and health, in addition to having COVID-19.
Britain has recorded 95,981 deaths among people who tested positive, the highest confirmed virus toll in Europe.
The UK is stuck trying to slow the latest wave of the virus, and the government says the restrictions will not end anytime soon. Pubs, restaurants, gyms, nightlife and many shops are closed and people have to stay home for the most part.
The UK government is considering tightening quarantine requirements for people coming from abroad. Travelers have had to isolate themselves for ten days, but enforcement is patchy. Authorities are considering requiring arrivals to stay in quarantine hotels, a practice practiced in other countries, including Australia.
“We may have to go further to protect our borders,” Prime Minister Boris Johnson said Friday.
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