French health organization recommends postponing second injection of COVID to six weeks after first

PARIS (Reuters) – France’s main health advisory body on Saturday recommended doubling the time between people receiving the first and second COVID-19 vaccinations to six weeks from three in order to increase the number of vaccinations.

The gap between the first and second injection in France is currently three weeks for people in retirement homes, who are priority, and four weeks for others such as health workers.

The French National Authority for Health (HAS) said that the spacing of the two compulsory vaccinations of the Pfizer / BioNtech and Moderna vaccines would allow to treat at least 700,000 additional people during the first month.

“The growing number of infections and the worrying arrival of new variants call for an acceleration of the vaccination campaign to prevent the epidemic from climbing in the weeks to come,” HAS said in a statement.

HAS clarified that if there is no agreement between the different countries on the optimal time between the two shots, it seemed reasonable to postpone the second injection to six weeks because the first shot would already provide protection against the coronavirus from the 12th or 14th day after the injection.

He added that it was essential that people get a second injection.

HAS is an independent advisory body whose recommendations can inform government policy but do not automatically translate into action.

The World Health Organization said earlier this month that people should receive two doses of the Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine within 21 to 28 days.

Several countries are considering ways to increase limited supplies of COVID-19 vaccines, including delaying dosing intervals or reducing dose sizes.

In Britain, regulators have ruled injections can be given up to 12 weeks apart, although a group of British doctors have written to England’s chief medical officer telling him to close the gap between doses of the Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine at six weeks.

Pfizer and BioNTech have warned that they have no evidence that their vaccine will continue to be protective if the second dose is given more than 21 days after the first.

(Reporting by Geert De Clercq and Caroline Pailliez; Editing by David Holmes)