Doctors in the United Kingdom are unhappy with government officials changing the COVID-19 vaccine rollout plan.
Health regulators announced they would prioritize giving as many people as possible their first dose of the vaccine, which could result in delays for people attempting to receive their second and final dose of the vaccine. The delay could be as long as 12 weeks, even though the two-dose coronavirus vaccine is meant to be administered about three weeks after the initial dose.
The Doctors’ Association UK, a nonprofit association to support front-line doctors, expressed concerns about the changes in the distribution plan.
“Pfizer and BioNTech’s phase three study for the Covid-19 vaccine was designed to evaluate the vaccine’s safety and efficacy following a two-dose schedule, separated by 21 days. The safety and efficacy of the vaccine has not been evaluated on different dosing schedules as the majority of trial participants received the second dose within that window specified in the study design,” they said in a statement. “Data from the phase three study demonstrated that, although partial protection from the vaccine appears to begin as early as 12 days after the first dose, two doses of the vaccine are required to provide the maximum protection against the disease, a vaccine efficacy of 95%.”
The statement noted that there is “no data” available to “demonstrate that protection after the first dose is sustained after 21 days.”
“We have real and grave concerns about these sudden changes to the Pfizer vaccine regime. It undermines the consent process, as well as completely failing to follow the science,” the group said.
Pfizer also criticized health officials’ change in the rollout plan, saying their clinical trials focused on a 21-day interval between doses.
“The safety and efficacy of the vaccine has not been evaluated on different dosing schedules as the majority of trial participants received the second dose within the window specified in the study design,” Pfizer told CNBC.
The government said the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation provided the guidance, which advises that their rollout plan will “ensure that more at-risk people are able to get meaningful protection from a vaccine in the coming weeks and months.”
Nearly 2.5 million U.K. residents have been diagnosed with COVID-19, and more than 73,000 people have died due to complications from it, according to Johns Hopkins University coronavirus tracker. The vaccine, which first began to be administered in December, comes as a new variant of the coronavirus has emerged.
