International debate over 12 weeks gap row

Health Editor

BRITAIN is at the centre of an international debate over plans to delay second doses of Covid vaccines by almost three months.

The decision has divided scientific opinion, as the NHS prioritises giving first doses to as many people as possible.

Former Speaker of the House of Commons Betty Boothroyd branded the UK Government a “dictatorship” for altering its programme at the last minute. Around a million of those due to receive their second dose 21 days after their first now face waiting until spring.

But Germany is considering doing the same and Denmark has okayed a delay of up to six weeks.

Boothroyd, 91, told Sky News: “I question the morality of a government that is withdrawing from nearly one million of its elderly citizens – all of whom have underlying conditions – after a promise they would carry out to the best of their ability all inoculations necessary to give protection.”

Pfizer did not complete clinical trials of such dosing for its vaccine and has no evidence immunity lasts more than three weeks after the first dose. The UK’s Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation has concluded it is likely.

The British Society for Immunology said it would prefer the original dosing regime but accepted the “need to protect as many vulnerable people as possible in the short-term”.

It comes after trial data for the new Oxford vaccine suggested protection was greater with a bigger gap between doses.