Doctors call for gap between Pfizer vaccine doses to be cut to 6 weeks
The British Medical Association has urged the government to cut the gap between doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine from 12 weeks to six, amid concerns the UK strategy contradicts international guidance.
In a letter to England's chief medical officer, Prof Chris Whitty, the BMA warned that “the UK’s strategy has become increasingly isolated from many other countries.”
The group said it supports giving a second dose up to 42 days after the first dose, but that a longer gap is not in line with clinical trial data from Pfizer-BioNTech or World Health Organization analysis.
Earlier this month, the WHO’s expert group on vaccines recommended that a second Pfizer dose can be delayed in “exceptional circumstances” - but only up to the six week mark.
“The UK should adopt this best practice based on international professional opinion,” Dr Chaand Nagpaul, council chairman of the BMA, told the BBC.
“Most nations in the world are facing challenges similar to the UK in having limited vaccine supply and also wanting to protect their population maximally.
“No other nation has adopted the UK's approach. We think the flexibility that the WHO offers of extending to 42 days is being stretched far too much to go from six weeks right through to 12 weeks.”
Dr Nagpaul added protection “obviously” will not vanish after 42 days, but how much protection any individual will then confer is unknown.
“We should not be extrapolating data where we don't have it,” he said. “I do understand the trade-off and the rationale but if that was the right thing to do then we would see other nations following suit.”
In the letter to Prof Whitty, the BMA said doctors were also concerned that, “given the unpredictability of supplies, there may not be any guarantees that second doses of the Pfizer vaccine will be available in 12 weeks’ time.”
It urged Prof Whitty to “urgently review” the approach, which was introduced to give the maximum number of people some initial protection from the coronavirus.
But Public Health England appears set to resist the recommendation. Speaking to BBC Radio Four Dr Yvonne Doyle, PHE medical director, insisted it is essential to prevent the virus getting “the upper hand” by giving as many vulnerable people as possible a jab.
“The more people that are protected against this virus, the less opportunity it has to get the upper hand,” she said. “Protecting more people is the right thing to do. People will get their second dose. As supplies become available more people will be vaccinated.”
Echoing comments from Prof Whitty at Friday’s Downing Street press briefing, Dr Doyle added that the decision was the result of “a reasonable scientific balance on the basis of both supply and also protecting the most people.”
