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Almost everyone who received their first dose of a two-dose COVID-19 vaccine received their second dose within the recommended window, according to new data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
In the first two months of the COVID-19 vaccination campaign in the United States, approximately 12 million people received their first dose and were also scheduled for their second dose. The second dose is supposed to be given three weeks after the first for the Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine and four weeks for the Moderna vaccine (with a few days of tampon on each side). In this group, 88% of people had their second injection on time.
About 9 percent of people who received their first vaccine between December 14 and February 14 had not yet received their second dose, but were still within 42 days of their first dose. The CDC says that when a delay is inevitable, people can wait that long. Three percent of people were outside the 42 day window and missed the dose.
To look at these numbers in a different way, the CDC also looked at all of the people who had received a second dose during those two months to see how many people received it within the recommended time period. Over 95 percent of people were on schedule. Just under 3% of people were late (but within the 42-day window), and 1.5% of people had their second injection early.
Such a number of people receiving their second dose – and getting it on time – is reassuring, the CDC wrote in its report. The Pfizer / BioNTech and Moderna vaccines may have some protection with a single dose, but a single dose was not in clinical trials and it is not known how long this protection could last. The second injection strengthens the immune system and gives people the full benefits of vaccines.
When COVID-19 vaccines were first developed and licensed, experts worried about the challenges of a two-shot series. They were worried that they would have a hard time getting people back for a second shot. In other multidose vaccines, such as the HPV vaccine and the shingles vaccine, there is a drop. About a quarter of people who get their shingles vaccine for the first time do not get a second, and only about half of people complete a series of three HPV vaccines.
Despite the low number of people missing a second dose, CDC director Rochelle Walensky said the agency still hopes to close even the small gap. “The CDC is working across government and with state and local partners to identify and remove barriers to getting both doses,” she said at a news briefing today.
States and health organizations have high and low tech strategies to get people back to the correct second dose. Many central state immunization registries can advise doctors and patients when people need to receive a second dose. The same goes for electronic health records. Anyone who receives a COVID-19 vaccine also receives a card that tells them when their second dose should be and what vaccine they received.
CDC data shows that these methods appear to work. This is consistent with anecdotal reports from immunizers. “I don’t hear any major challenges with getting people back,” said Claire Hannan, executive director of the Association of Immunization Managers. The edge in February.
However, the CDC noted in its report that most of the people who received the COVID-19 vaccine in the first two months of their availability were healthcare workers and residents of long-term care facilities because they were the first to be eligible. These groups may be more likely to stick to the schedule because they could get vaccinated where they work or live.
The CDC report also says 90,484 people received the first dose of one vaccine and the second dose of another – 0.2% of the total. The agency said the Pfizer / BioNTech and Moderna vaccines should not be mixed except in the most exceptional circumstances when a second dose of the same brand is not available.
More than 37 million people in the United States are now fully vaccinated, either with two doses of the Pfizer / BioNTech or Moderna vaccine or with one dose of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, which takes only one injection.
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