How long will we wait for vaccinations?

I READ with interest the article “Challenging time for hospital as it battles rising virus cases and a lack of beds” (January 2) and wish Gavin Boyle and his staff all the best in dealing with the frontline of defence against this virus.

Gavin states that the hospital has already carried out 5,000 vaccinations. We now know that these are not full vaccinations for the majority, but just the first injection of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine that was approved with evidence based on a person receiving two injections, 21 days apart. The Government has now decided that this vaccine can be given 12-13 weeks apart.

I would like to know where the evidence to support this comes from. Definitely not from the manufacturers. Are those who were given the first jab now protected, and to what level, from week four onwards?

Very few city care homes have seen residents being vaccinated. The majority of care staff within the city have either not been vaccinated yet or fall into the group described above, therefore unsure as to whether they are protected or that they are protecting their residents.

With Derby city having a population of 42,000 over-65s, if half of these require the vaccinations, it will still take four months just to deliver the first dose. Hopefully the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccination will lead to this time being reduced, but with only 500,000 doses available initially, I’m not holding my breath.

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