With the country in crisis mode, the United Kingdom has approved to delay the second round of a coronavirus vaccine in order to get more people vaccinated in the first round. The U.K. takes this emergency action as a new variant of the coronavirus is spreading rapidly throughout the country, threatening its public health system.
The U.K.'s Independent Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE) endorsed the government's decision to delay the administration of a second dose of the approved Pfizer
"The urgency of concerted and effective action to suppress the new variant cannot be overstated. While it is a very difficult and finely balanced decision, Independent SAGE endorse the decision to pursue covered of as high a proportion of the population as possible, as quickly as possible as part of a comprehensive strategy," SAGE said in a statement.
By delaying the second dose of a coronavirus vaccine, officials are moving into uncharted territory due to the rapid nature that the two approved vaccines were tested in clinical trials. Researchers do not know if delaying the second shot will positively or negatively affect the vaccine's efficacy, which could in turn leave the nation still vulnerable and waste limited vaccines. Extending the time between shots could also lead to patients forgetting or skipping their second dose, which again can harm the vaccine's effectiveness in preventing infection.
BioNTech and Pfizer warned in a joint statement that there is no evidence to support their vaccine's efficiency if the administration of the second dose is delayed beyond the three week schedule.
"The safety and efficacy of the vaccine has not been evaluated on different dosing schedules as the majority of trial participants received the second doses within the window specified in the study design," the companies stated, quoted by Reuters. "There is no data to demonstrate that protection after the first does is sustained after 21 days."
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration said on Monday that changing the authorized dosing or schedules of COVID vaccines is not supported by available data. The federal health agency notes that while its is reasonable to consider emergency modifications--like reducing the number of doses, extending the length of time between dose, halfing doses, or mixing and matching different vaccines--these suggestions are "not rooted solidly in the available evidence."
"Without appropriate data supporting such changed in vaccine administration, we run a significant risk of placing public health at risk," the F.D.A. said in a statement.
Just over 1% of the U.S. population, which is about 330 million people, have received their first dose of either the Pfizer-BioNTech shot or the vaccine developed by Moderna
Moderna announced on Monday that it is increasing the minimum number of vaccine doses it expects to produce this year by 20% to 600 million, with the company's maximum goal still set for 1 billion doses. The biotech is also on track to deliver 100 million doses to the U.S. by the end of March and an additional 100 million by June.
