xperts have agreed a new coronavirus vaccination strategy that will see at-risk people treated more quickly.
The scientists, who advise the Government on vaccination, said the focus should be on giving at-risk people the first dose of whichever vaccine they receive, rather than providing the required two doses in as short a time as possible.
The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) said everyone who receives the Pfizer/BioNTech and Oxford University/AstraZeneca vaccines will still receive their second dose within 12 weeks of the first.
This means the vaccines can be deployed in a way that reaches as many people as possible as quickly as possible – with the emphasis on targeting vulnerable groups first.
Prof Wei Shen Lim, chairman of the JCVI, said with Covid infection rates currently at a high level, the “immediate urgency is for rapid and high levels of vaccine uptake”.
He said a first dose gives a high level of protection and the JCVI therefore recommends delivery of the initial dose should be prioritised for both the Pfizer and AstraZeneca vaccines.
He told a Downing Street data briefing: “This will allow the greatest number of eligible people to receive vaccine in the shortest time possible and that will protect the greatest number of lives.
“The second vaccine dose is still important because it may impact on the duration of protection. We recommend that the second dose is given up to 12 weeks after the first dose.”
Some scientists welcomed the decision, saying it will allow greater “flexibility” in the vaccination programme.
But pharmaceutical giant Pfizer said it only assessed its vaccine on a two-dose regimen where people were given the jab three weeks apart.
In a statement it said: “Pfizer and BioNTech’s phase three study for the Covid-19 vaccine was designed to evaluate the vaccine’s safety and efficacy following a two-dose schedule, separated by 21 days.
“The safety and efficacy of the vaccine has not been evaluated on different dosing schedules as the majority of trial participants received the second dose within the window specified in the study design.
“Data from the phase three study demonstrated that, although partial protection from the vaccine appears to begin as early as 12 days after the first dose, two doses of the vaccine are required to provide the maximum protection against the disease, a vaccine efficacy of 95 per cent.
“There are no data to demonstrate that protection after the first dose is sustained after 21 days.
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)“While decisions on alternative dosing regimens reside with health authorities, Pfizer believes it is critical that health authorities conduct surveillance efforts on any alternative schedules implemented and to ensure each recipient is afforded the maximum possible protection, which means immunisation with two doses of the vaccine.”
Commenting on the decision, Stephen Evans, professor of pharmacoepidemiology at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, said: “The decision to allow both the currently UK authorised vaccines to be given with a greater delay between doses to maximise the numbers getting one dose as rapidly as possible is a sensible one.
“It cannot have been an easy decision, since the evidence on the efficacy of one dose was more limited, but the crisis in the UK requires more than the usual regulatory approach.”
