Boycott fears he will ‘still be at risk’ if second dose is delayed

SIR GEOFFREY BOYCOTT has added his weight to concern over delays to the second Pfizer vaccine jab, echoing fears over whether he will now be protected from Covid-19.

Sir Geoffrey was given his first Pfizer/ Biontech jab on Christmas Eve, but now expects an appointment for the second dose to be postponed.

Last week, regulators changed the regimen for the Pfizer/biontech vaccine, extending the time between doses from 21 days to 12 weeks. The change will allow millions more to receive the Pfizer vaccine, but has caused anxiety among the over-80s – just over half a million people in England – who had already received the first jab.

Pfizer has said it has tested the vaccine’s efficacy only when the two vaccines were given up to 21 days apart. But the regulatory agency in the UK insists a single Pfizer dose gives 90 per cent protection against Covid-19.

But Sir Geoffrey, i n comments reflected by many elderly people in a similar situation, said: “Pfizer has always said give the second dose at three weeks. The big worry is if it goes to 12 weeks, does it still work? And if they cannot answer that with a categorical ‘yes’, then you have to give the dose within three weeks or it might be useless.”

Sir Geoffrey, 80, who underwent a quadruple heart bypass in 2018, said: “Lots of people like me were delighted to be told we could get the vaccine.”

Sir Geoffrey, one of England’s greatest cricketers, said he expected the date of the second dose to be postponed when

GPS return to work today. His first was administered at a health centre in West Yorkshire, and he was due to return at the same time three weeks later.

He accused ministers of “changing their minds about everything”. He added: “Credibility is a huge issue. One minute, they told us there is enough vaccine for everybody, now they are saying there is a shortage and they want to give everybody one dose.

“How can you believe them? They don’t know what they are doing from one minute to the next. It is very worrying. If I get the second jab after 12 weeks, is it going to help or are we still going to be at risk? That’s the problem.”

One of the scientists developing the Imperial College vaccine said that while there was evidence to support delaying a second dose of the jab from Oxford University/astrazeneca, data was “less robust” for the Pfizer/ Biontech vaccine. Professor Robin Shattock, from the Department of Infectious Disease at Imperial College London, said: “The potential risk is, if it’s a sub- optimal immune response, although it may reduce hospital admissions, it may give the virus a window to evolve mutations that may render the vaccine less efficacious in the future.

“So it’s really a judgment call. There’s no obvious right decision and people are trying to make the right balance over preventing the hospitals continuing to have high numbers of cases, versus the risks of not going for the full regime in the shortest possible time.”

The British Medical Association has said cancelling patients booked in for their second doses was “grossly unfair”.

But the UK’S chief medical officers have defended the delay to the second dose. In a letter to doctors, they said that the “great majority” of initial protection came from the first jab.

‘How can you believe them? They don’t know what they are doing from one minute to the next. It is worrying’