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US infectious disease expert Dr Anthony Fauci has said he does not agree with the UK’s approach of delaying the second dose of the Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine.
Dr Fauci told CNN on Friday that the United States would not follow in the UK’s footsteps and follow the advice of Pfizer and BioNTech to administer the second dose of its vaccine three weeks after the first.
Despite outcry from doctors, the UK’s chief medical officers this week defended their plan to postpone the second dose of the Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine to patients, meaning people would now wait up to 12 weeks. The change is to prioritize giving more people their first dose.
Dr Fauci told CNN: “We know from clinical trials that the optimal time is to give it someday and during [the Moderna jab which is also approved in the US] wait 28 days and Pfizer 21 days later. He added that while you can “argue” for lengthening the doses, he would not be in favor of doing so.
Pfizer and BioNTech also warned that both doses were crucial for achieving maximum protection against Covid, saying they had no evidence that the first dose alone would protect patients after three weeks.
In the UK, the new decision will apply to people who expected to receive their second dose of the Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine after January 4. Patients receiving the first vaccine of the new AstraZeneca / Oxford vaccine will also have to wait up to 12 weeks.
In a statement Thursday evening, Chris Whitty, the chief medical officer for England, and his counterparts in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, said they are standing by their decision to delay a second dose in order to ensure that more people can receive it. their first as soon as possible.
They said, “We must follow public health principles and act quickly if we are to overcome this pandemic plaguing our communities, and we believe the public will understand and thank us for this decisive action.
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