Three weeks or three months: the gap between Covid doses matters

Microsoft Word - McGuinness op-ed vaccination timeframes.docx GRAPHICS AVAILABLE IN THE ORIGINAL THINK PIECE ON THE MCGUINNESS SITE - Three weeks or three months: the gap between Covid doses matters By Wendy McGuinness Experience from the UK’s Covid-19 vaccination rollout suggests 12 weeks may be the opt. [...] Data from clinical trials shows that the efficacy of the AstraZeneca vaccine was higher when the second dose was given at, or after 12 weeks and a recent study of people aged over 80 years found that extending the second dose interval to 12 weeks for the Pfizer BioNTech vaccine markedly increased the peak spike-specific antibody response by three and a half times compared to those who had their se. [...] It may also be recommended that the interval between the two doses be shortened to less than 12 weeks in periods of high or increased disease incidence.”2 The WHO recommends 21 to 28-day intervals between Pfizer doses, and that the second dose can be extended to 12 weeks to gain coverage for high priority populations.3 Importantly, not all the science is in and the extent of the level of improved. [...] The New Zealand way In contrast to the UK, New Zealand has adopted a different strategy, focusing on optimising two doses for our most vulnerable citizens and minimising the gap between doses, in some cases, to as little as three weeks (see the resulting strategy in Figure 2). [...] No doubt there is work happening behind the scenes to remedy this, but a photo could have been collected at the time of the first vaccination and a verifiable certificate could have been posted out after the second dose.