UK wants to reduce the interval between two doses of COVID-19 vaccine for the Delta variant from 8 to 4 weeks

The interval between the two doses of the COVID-19 vaccine may decreased in the UK from eight to four weeks to speed up administration of the full immunization schedule, in response to the rapid spread of Delta variant, report this Sunday the newspaper Sunday Times.

The UK government has asked the so-called Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunization (JCVI) urgent advice to reduce the interval between the two doses, with a view to lifting all restrictions in England from July 19, adds Sunday.

The initial decision to delay the application of the second dose was taken to broaden the scope of the vaccination campaign and ensure that more people have some protection against the novel coronavirus.

If the JCVI gives the green light for this change, it will allow millions of people to travel abroad during the school holidays which begin at the end of July and which will last until the first days of September.

The UK government recently announced that Britons with the full vaccination schedule will not have to self-quarantine for ten days upon returning to England from countries listed as amber (medium risk of covid), including Spain .

The increase in cases of the delta variant recorded in the United Kingdom in recent weeks responds, according to experts, to infections in young people not yet vaccinated or having received only the first of two doses..

86.9% of the UK adult population received the first dose and 65.6% of adults the second, so reducing the interval would narrow the gap.

According to the latest official data, on Saturday 32,367 new infections were recorded, which the average of the last seven days has already exceeded 30,000 new cases per day, more than double the figure of two weeks ago. However, although the number of daily deaths is on the rise, the average has remained below 30 deaths per day for almost three months.

Authorities expect the case curve to continue to rise. The official estimate indicated that 50,000 daily infections would be reached on July 19 and scientists warn that a few days later, they would reach 100,000, after the many and massive meetings and celebrations of England’s matches in the European Championship.

“It is possible, even probable, that regions little affected by the epidemic in the United Kingdom will be seeded by fans returning from London,” warned Antoine Flahault, director of the Institute for Global Health at the University of Geneva.

Regarding vaccination, the government estimates that from mid-September, according to the newspaper, all over 18s will have received the full vaccination schedule and will be able to issue the certificates, which in the UK have begun to refer to as ” vaccination passports ”.

“In the fall, passports can become an important instrument that will allow us to keep” the economy open, a source told the newspaper at the official residence on Downing Street.

(With information from EFE)

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