MEDICS DEMAND VACCINE RETHINK
12-week dose delay ‘tough to justify’
TOP doctors want to cut the gap between doses of the Pfizer jab to six weeks amid fears Britain’s 12-week delay cuts effectiveness.
The British Medical Association warned England’s Chief Medical Officer Prof Chris Whitty that no other country has adopted a 12-week interval and called it “ever more difficult to justify”.
Dr Chaand Nagpaul, BMA council chair, urged using “best practice based on international opinion”.
He added: “Obviously the protection will not vanish after six weeks but what we do not know is what level of protection
Dr Nagpaul will be offered. We shouldn’t be extrapolating data where we don’t have it.”
Vaccine manufacturer Pfizer says there is no evidence second doses of its jab are effective if given after 21 days.
The World Health Organisation advises a four-week gap between jabs. Dr David Strain, a hospital consultant in Exeter, said: “The UK is going against world opinion by sticking out for 12 weeks. Effectively the whole of the UK has been enrolled in a clinical trial without the usual consent.” Aston
Medical School founder Prof Asif Ahmed said: “A lot of clinicians are concerned. If you don’t get the full dose, the virus may mutate and be resistant.”
Dr Julia Patterson, founder of the Every Doctor campaign to protect NHS workers, added: “A single dose is partial protection. It’s as simple as that.”
And the BMA said “unpredictability of supplies” means second doses may not be available in 12 weeks anyway.
SAGE scientist Prof Deenan Pillay called for urgent research into how well people were protected six weeks after a first dose – soon possible as the vaccination programme began a month ago.
Dr Ravi Gupta of Cambridge University found nearly half of over-80s did not have a good enough response to the first dose to stop Covid infecting cells.
Last night Prof Whitty defended the longer gap, saying it meant many more can be vaccinated much more quickly.
More than 5.8million Britons have had an injection but only 440,000 have had a second. The aim is to vaccinate 15million vulnerable people and other key groups by mid-February.
The Department of Health insisted: “Both vaccines provide a high degree of protection after the first dose.”