COVID-19: Halve the gap between Pfizer vaccine doses, senior doctors urge | UK News

Senior medics have called on England’s chief medical officer to halve the gap between the first and second dose of Pfizer’s coronavirus vaccine.

The British Medical Association (BMA) says the gap between doses given to patients should be reduced from 12 weeks to six.

The World Health Organization recommended the gap should be a maximum of 6 weeks – but the UK Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) chose to delay a second dose for up to 12 weeks , to make sure more people get the first vaccine sooner.

Pfizer first tested the vaccine’s effectiveness when the two doses were given 21 days apart. Originally, the government said the second doses would be given at 3 weeks.

BMA chairman Chaand Nagpaul told Sky News the organization would “like to have a dialogue with the government on this issue” given the divergent views.

He said a six-week deadline – in line with WHO advice – would still allow large numbers of people to be vaccinated and would be more in line with that of other countries.

He said: “We wrote to the chief medical officer asking him to reconsider the decision in the UK, looking at advice from the World Health Organization, and that no other country has adopted the deadline. 12 weeks.

“Six weeks from the initial three weeks further doubles the number of people who can be vaccinated.”

Richard Vautrey, chairman of the BMA’s GP committee, told Sky News that the organization was speaking to Professor Chris Whitty, England’s chief medical officer, but they wanted all data from the vaccination program from the United Kingdom are taken into account.

He said: “We still don’t do what the World Health Organization and other European countries are doing, but we need to understand the data … to really fully understand what level of protection is given after a dose. “

More than 5.3 million people have received their first vaccine vaccine across the UK.

Until they get the second hit, they won’t have the maximum level of protection it can provide.

Mr Vautrey said the BMA “supports” the way the immunization program targets as many people as possible, but is “open” to looking at the data and implementing it “as best we can. can ”.

A spokesperson for the Ministry of Health and Social Affairs said: “The MHRA’s decision to change vaccine dosing intervals followed a thorough review of the data and was in line with recommendations from the Kingdom’s four chief medical officers. -United.

Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player

“Both vaccines offer a high degree of protection after the first dose, and the Government has followed closely the guidance of the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunization (JCVI) which has made it clear that we should give as many people as possible. people possible a certain level of immunity initially. . “

Speaking at a press conference in Downing Street on Friday, Professor Whitty said delaying a second stroke would double the number of people receiving a vaccination.

He said widening the gap was a “public health decision” that would allow “many more people to be vaccinated much faster.”

It follows from the data of Deployment of the vaccine in Israel which suggests that the effectiveness of a dose of Pfizer is only 33%.

Meanwhile, the prime minister Boris Johnson urged people to stay home and follow the rules after revealing that the new COVID variant, which has emerged in the south-east of England, could lead to “a higher degree of mortality”.

He and a number of experts have also warned that lifting the restrictions too soon would simply lead to another lockdown, leaving the UK with no hope of a return to normal in the near future.

The change in tone comes as a series of hard-hitting government ads were launched on Friday evening, asking Britons if they “can look coronavirus patients in the eye.”

The first of the new commercials, broadcast on ITV and Channel 4, features COVID-19[female[feminine patients and their caregivers in Basingstoke and North Hampshire Hospital.

Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player

It starts with a room full of medics trying to save someone in intensive care before showing the faces of those who are very sick and the medics treating them.

They remain silent, staring at the viewer, before a voice asks, “Can you look them in the eye and tell them that you are doing all you can to stop the spread of COVID-19?”

The Prime Minister’s scientific director, Sir Patrick Vallance, said that with the new variant, 13 or 14 in 1,000 people over the age of 60 with the virus died.

With the initial virus, the number was 10 in 1,000.

Nurses, meanwhile, have written to the government asking for an “urgent” review to find out whether standard surgical masks are preventing transmission of the new variant in COVID services.

Dame Donna Kinnair, executive director of the Royal College of Nursing, said some hospitals are using improved PPE, creating a protective “postcode lottery”.

A record 1,820 people are believed to have died from the coronavirus on Wednesday, and 1,401 other COVID-related deaths were recorded on Friday.

The government says one person is admitted to hospital with the virus every 30 seconds in England, a quarter of whom are under 55.

Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player

During Friday’s briefing, Chief Medical Officer Professor Chris Whitty said infections across the country are still “at a very high level” and the situation is “extremely precarious”.

“The impact of the current wave is still putting great pressure on hospitals across the country and many patients are very sick,” he urged.

“The vaccines give clear hope for the future, but for now we must all continue to play our part in protecting the NHS and saving lives.”

Sir Patrick Vallance also warned that there is still not enough evidence to say whether current vaccines will protect against emerging variants from South Africa and Brazil.

But despite the rising death toll, the government science advisory group for emergencies (SAGE) said on Friday that the virus the reproduction number (R) had fallen between 1.2 and 1.3 and between 0.8 and 1.0.

While this suggests the lockdown is working, experts have warned that restrictions are still far from being relaxed – as hospitals are still in crisis – and more may be needed to lower the numbers.

Rowland Kao, professor of veterinary epidemiology at the University of Edinburgh, said: “While recent results showing a drop in the number of cases are good news and suggest that the variant is controllable via existing measures, these results on deaths imply that the burden on hospitals will continue. be high and require a longer restriction period. “

A member of SAGE and former chief science adviser Sir Mark Walport told the BBC: “If the evidence shows that the decline in cases is not continuing, then it is clear that policymakers will need to consider much more action. strict. “