Is it time for the US to delay second Covid-19 shots?

Advisory Board ^ | Apr 14, 2021 | Daily Briefing

[CondoleezzaProtege]

Current practice in the United States is to administer two doses of Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna vaccines three to four weeks—which is the interval the drugmakers used in their clinical trials...drugmakers chose this interval "to rapidly prove efficacy in clinical trials," not because they were trying to assess "the optimal way of using the vaccines to quell a pandemic."

And while this "three- or four-week follow-up is safe and effective, there is no evidence it optimizes either individual benefit or population protection..."

"A single dose of an mRNA vaccine is 80% effective and durable for 12 weeks," whereas the full two-dose regime is "about 90% effective." ..."In the battle against the surge, a first dose provides eight times more benefit than the incremental increase in protection achieved by using that dose for a second shot."

That's why some other countries, like Britain, have delayed second doses in favor of getting more people their first shot, they write. In fact, according to the New York Times, Britain is currently delaying shots by up to 12 weeks—allowing it to more rapidly give at least partial protection to 46% of its population—and a government advisory committee in Canada has advised second shots be delayed by up to four months.

But perhaps the biggest concern, according to experts, is a worry that delaying doses to allow new variants to breed in partially vaccinated people who can't quickly stave off infection. "Let's go with what we know is the optimal degree of protection," Fauci said.

However, several critics have pushed back against that concern...Sarah Cobey, an epidemiologist and evolutionary biologist at the University of Chicago, said "I would put my money on it having the opposite effect," she said, suggesting that wider vaccination could instead help arrest the emergence and spread of new variants.

[norwaypinesavage]

"I was curious why they just didn't restrict it to the groups outside of that.

Because the rules are made by superstitious bureaucrats, not by logic and reasoning.

[House Atreides]

Same.

*dons flame suit*
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I suspect nobody here really cares whether you get vaccinated or not. We believe in free choice for medical treatment. I know I feel you should certainly be free to choose just as you should live with the consequences of your decision.

Where I and others might have a problem is if you come on and start posting all kinds of lies and misleading “information”. Then you could expect to be called on the falsehoods.