Delay in giving second dose ‘will save thousands of lives’

DELAYING a second dose of coronavirus vaccine will save “thousands of lives” and may provide better protection in the long run, a top government vaccine adviser has said.

Prof Anthony Harnden, deputy chairman of the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation, said there was “no real evidence” that a quicker follow-up dose was more effective. It comes as other medical professionals continued to criticise the delay, with one GP describing it as an “unregulated and unlicensed trial”.

“We do believe you should have a second dose but we do believe that can be delayed,” Prof Harnden told Sky News on Sunday. He cited data from a study of the Moderna vaccine – which uses a similar technology to the Pfizer vaccine – which showed 1,000 people had 90 per cent immunity two months after receiving one dose.

“If you look at the Astrazeneca data – which I accept is a different technology – it may be that the longer you leave the second dose the better protection you have,” he said.

“Hopefully, not only will this strategy get more people immunised and protect the vulnerable ... and save thousands and thousands of lives, it may in the end give protection to the population as a whole.”

Prof Harnden said that although data from Israel indicated immunity after a first dose of the Pfizer vaccine could be as low as 33 per cent, further examination of the results was needed.

The British Medical Association has written to the chief medical officer for England urging a rollout rethink, highlighting the maximum gap of six weeks between Pfizer jabs mandated by the World Heath Organisation.

Matt Hancock, the Health Secretary, defended the Government’s decision to delay the time between vaccine doses.

“We do know this policy is going to save lives,” he said, speaking on Sky’s Sophy Ridge On Sunday.

“So long as there is decent efficacy after the first dose, and we have a high degree of confidence that that’s the case, then in a situation where there is a limited supply... you want to get as many people to have as much protection as possible as quickly as possible.

“If you have grandparents who are both in their 70s or 80s you obviously would want each of them to have one dose when you know that one dose is effective, rather than one to have the full two doses and one to have no protection at all.

“That is why we have made this decision and it is essentially to save the most lives fastest and you can totally understand why we’ve done this.”