Immunity from first dose of vaccine could be as low as 33%, health chief warns

The level of immunity offered by a single dose of one of the COVID vaccines could be as low as 33%, a medical chief has warned.

Professor Anthony Harnden, vice-chair of the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunization (JCVI), said he was reviewing data from a study in Israel that appears to suggest that two doses of the Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine are needed before high immunity levels. Can be reached.

At the end of December, the JCVI, which advises the government on the deployment of the vaccine, announced that the effectiveness of the Pfizer vaccine was “about 90%”, starting 14 days after the first dose.

They also claimed that “the short-term protection against the first dose is very high”.

But Professor Harnden said on Sunday that the Israeli study indicates that immunity after a first dose could be as low as 33%.

“The Israeli data is preliminary data, it involves PCR tests which are of course asymptomatic cases as well as symptomatic cases,” Professor Harnden said.

“They did not follow up for more than three weeks and the statistical methods they used are unclear.”

Read more: Government ‘is reviewing Pfizer vaccine very carefully’ after claims of ‘real-world efficacy’

He told Sky’s Sophie Ridge on Sunday: “We will be looking at this in detail, but for now, our clear goal is that the delayed second dose strategy is going to save many lives nationwide.”

He predicted there would be a sharp drop in hospitalizations and deaths weeks after the first four priority groups were offered their first dose of the vaccine.

“I am confident the government has secured enough vaccine and provided the manufacturers can keep up with orders then we will see a good supply.”

Read more: Medical chief criticizes people for skipping vaccine queue

Health Secretary Matt Hancock said on Sunday that three-quarters of people over 80 in the UK had now received their first stroke, with a similar number in care homes.

But Professor Harnden warned that people might end up needing an annual coronavirus vaccine to keep up with variations in the virus.

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“I think we have to get used to it,” he added.

“We live in a world where the coronavirus is so widespread and rapidly changing that new variants are going to appear in all kinds of different countries.”

Professor Harnden added: “We may well be in a situation where we need to have an annual coronavirus vaccine, much like we do with the flu vaccine, but the public should be reassured that these technologies are relatively easy. to modify and modify, so once we find predominant strains, vaccines can be modified. “

“At the moment, it is really good news that these vaccines we are currently delivering appear to be effective against the major strains in circulation and variant strains in the UK at this time.”