What to know about getting your second dose of vaccine in the Bay Area

Alameda: According to county spokesperson Neetu Balram, anyone who received the first dose at a distribution point in Alameda County on or after January 11 has the option to schedule the next appointment there. Patients are given a QR code to scan with a smartphone, leading them to an online planner. Those who cannot access the QR code will receive an email.

Against the coast: The Contra Costa County vaccine appointment line (833-829-2626) allows residents to book their first and second dose appointments at the same time, according to spokesperson Will Harper. The county is currently upgrading its online dating system.

Marine: Residents can schedule their second appointment while receiving their first doses, county spokesperson Laine Hendricks said. Anyone who leaves without having made a next appointment will receive an email one week before the due date for the second dose and will have several appointment options.

Napa: In Napa County, residents fill out a Vaccine Interest Form to schedule first appointments. After receiving the first dose, patients schedule their second dose via a county follow-up email, and anyone who does not use the email is given a number for the county’s bilingual call center to take a call. second date, according to county spokesperson Janet. Upton. The county reported Thursday that due to a limited supply, residents who have already received their first doses may have to delay their second dose by at least two weeks, with priority given to health workers and those who have 75 years old.

San Francisco: Everyone who received their first dose of the coronavirus vaccine has a second dose of the two-dose schedule pending with their name on it, or has already received the second dose, Director of Health Dr Grant Colfax said Thursday. .

Saint Matthew: Residents should call their health care provider. If they can’t schedule the second dose with their provider, they can email County Health at [email protected].

Santa Clara: Residents can contact their provider, using the contact information available at www.sccfreevax.org. Santa Clara County Health System customers can call Valley Connections at 408-970-2000.

Solano: If you need help planning your second injection, the county’s vaccine website says you should contact the location that made your initial appointment for assistance. Your CDC vaccine card will also include follow-up vaccination information.

Sonoma: County clinics are now focusing on those 75 and over, prioritizing seniors who do not have a primary care doctor and / or who do not have insurance. Anyone eligible who has not heard from their primary care physician can visit one of the sites listed on socoemergency.org/vaccine.

What is the current recommended time frame for a second vaccine?

The two available vaccines – made by Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna – involve a two-dose regimen determined by the manufacturers, with schedules authorized by the Food and Drug Administration. The recommendation for the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine is 21 days between the first and second dose for patients 16 years of age and older. For Moderna, the recommended interval is 28 days for people 18 and over. Neither vaccine is approved for children below these ages.

George Rutherford, an infectious disease expert at UCSF, said the dosing schedules are not to show how long you can go between doses, but to show the minimum amount of time between them to ensure protection.

“When they put the trials together, they wanted to vaccinate as many people as possible … and protect them as quickly as possible,” he said.

Experts say there is some leeway for the timing of the second dose. The CDC recently updated its guidelines to allow administration of the second dose for up to six weeks (42 days) after the first dose, but the CDC is not advocating a delay.

Some experts have suggested postponing the second doses so that as many people as possible can receive their first dose. Britain has done so with its AstraZeneca-Oxford vaccine rollout, and analysis released this week suggests that one dose offers strong protection even after several months.

America’s leading infectious disease expert Dr Anthony Fauci told ABC this week that delaying the second dose by a week or two is not a major problem.

“But I would be afraid to delay it for about three months,” he said. “You have to be careful because you are dealing with different vaccine platforms.”

What protection does the first dose give me against the coronavirus?

Data to date show that vaccine efficacy starting 12 days after the first dose of Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine was approximately 52%, including participants who may have been infected just before or just after the vaccine. The UK Vaccines Committee calculated the effectiveness of the first dose of the vaccine by looking at days 15-21 and found that the effectiveness jumped to 89%.

According to data in the FDA dossier, the Moderna vaccine can offer up to 90% protection 14 days after the first dose.

In summary, Pfizer and Moderna appear to be around 90% effective after Dose 1 about two weeks later, said Dr. Peter Chin-Hong, infectious disease expert at UCSF. But experts still don’t know how long the immunity lasts.

What happens if I miss the correct time for my second dose?

The CDC has already extended the time to receive your second dose to six weeks. But if you miss that deadline by a few weeks, the experts say don’t be too worried. “Especially in this crisis, I’m all for giving as many people a chance as possible, and making sure everyone can get the second, but not stressing if people can’t get it. ‘get exactly in the meantime,’ Chin-Hong told me.

Extending beyond the three-month mark, Chin-Hong said, could be of concern because of the length of the immunity. But even if you only get the first shot, you still have some degree of protection for at least several months.

What happens if I don’t get the second dose at all?

Experts say this scenario is unlikely to happen on a large scale. “I’m going to assume that a second dose will be available for everyone,” said Dr. Robert Siegel, professor of immunology at Stanford. “The question is whether this will be delayed? The answer is yes, there is a good chance now.

If for some reason you only get one dose, experts say you need to make sure you contact your healthcare provider for a more specific protocol and information – as missing the second dose could mean that you are less protected. It is important to remain vigilant and adhere to public health guidelines which include wearing masks, social distancing, and hand washing, as you could still be infected or infect others.

About 20% to 30% of people do not respond to the first dose of the vaccine – the second vaccine just ensures that people have a chance to respond to the vaccine, Chin-Hong said. Either way, experts say you should still try to give your second injection whenever you can, even if it’s beyond six weeks.

If you’re still not in a position, it’s still possible that herd immunity will help some degree of protection, Chin-Hong said. But variants are floating around that are more likely to escape current vaccines, and fewer people get vaccinated, more variants can take over in the epidemiological ecosystem.

The second hit can also give you longer lasting immunity, meaning it would last longer, but Chin-Hong said the CDC and other agencies will specify that duration when more is known.

“We don’t know how long the protection against vaccination lasts, but we can reasonably assume that the protection against two doses will last much longer,” said Siegel. “This is because of the way priming works in the immune system and you would start at a higher level of protection which would take longer to decrease.”