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The British approach of having a larger gap between the first and second dose of the Covid-19 vaccine has been “justified”, World Health Organization special envoy David Nabarro said on Sunday.
Speaking on Sky News, Nabarro said:
“I think the UK approach, at least so far, has been confirmed. And yes, I think that’s a great lesson for the rest of the world. Thank you, thank you British scientists. ”
“Isn’t it wonderful that it turned out that due to the bravery of the UK, frankly, that extended gap seems to be associated with even greater protection?” This is how we do Covid at the moment, we are all learning together, different countries approaching it in different ways, ”he added.
The UK is currently prioritizing the first dose of a vaccine, with a second dose up to 12 weeks later, a larger gap than initially expected.
Nabarro explained that WHO’s advice on vaccine dose intervals was “based on what the manufacturers did during what we call phase 3 trials of the vaccine. Then the WHO and its committees really have to work on the basis of what the manufacturers have told them.
“This committee meets quite often right now because there are a lot of vaccines being produced, and the committee needs to look at the vaccines and they will actually be reviewing the doses following the UK experience,” he said. he added.
The WHO currently recommends that the second doses of Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines be administered up to 4 weeks after the first and up to six weeks later in “exceptional circumstances”. It is currently evaluating the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine for emergency use.
However, speaking earlier on NBC’s Meet the Press, Dr.Anthony Fauci, director of the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said there might not be enough time. to study the effectiveness of receiving a dose of vaccine and that people should stick to the data available. The data.
Fauci said: “From a theoretical point of view, it would be nice to know if you only get one dose, how long is the durability and what the level of effect is … But, what we have right now and what we need to do. this is the scientific data that we have accumulated and it is really very solid.
The current data Fauci was referring to indicates that people should be given a booster dose 21 days after their first injection of Pfizer and 28 days after their first injection of Moderna.
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