According to Russia Today (RT) on the 18th, Canadian researchers called for a second dose of Pfizer coronavirus vaccine to be postponed, on the grounds that one dose can already provide “short-term protection” and that delayed vaccination can make more people get vaccination.
The above ideas were published in the New England Journal of Medicine on the 17th in the form of an open letter. “Given the current vaccine shortage, delaying a second dose of vaccine is a matter of national security,” the letter reads.
Canadian researchers reportedly concluded after reviewing data related to the Pfizer vaccine that although the protective effect of two complete doses of the coronavirus vaccine is 94.8%, the single dose still has 92.6% effectiveness, and the difference between the two is almost negligible.
Therefore, they believe that the government should delay the vaccination of the second dose, so that more people can be vaccinated.
However, these researchers also admit that the dose of vaccination may affect the time of immunity to the novel coronavirus.
However, the researchers’ suggestion does not seem to have been endorsed by Pfizer. According to the report, Pfizer responded to caution against this one-dreducing method, because the practice of only taking a single dose still needs to be thoroughly evaluated and further studied.
Pfizer believes that the vaccination plan should be decided by the health department.
However, the company believes that the health department should monitor different vaccination programs to ensure that vaccines are maximized protective effects.”
According to Global News Canada, Howard Njoo, the country’s deputy chief public health officer, said on the 18th that changing vaccination programs was “under discussion”.
“What is the balance between providing protection to more people and giving two doses to less people with one [vaccine] as planned,” he said.
The report mentioned that in December last year, former British Prime Minister Tony Blair said that the original vaccination plan should be changed to allow more people to be vaccinated with the first dose of the coronavirus vaccine.
Some scientists support it, while others oppose it calling it “too risky” and lacks sufficient data support.
In addition to the “only one dose” approach, Monsef Slawy, chief adviser to Operation Warp, a U.S. vaccine and drug tackling program, proposed another approach on January 3 — still vaccinated twice, but halved each dose.
“We know that for the Modena vaccine, giving people between the ages of 18 and 55 two (vaccinated) and half doses each means that we can use the dose of vaccine we have now to achieve the goal of doubling the number of immunizations,” Slavi said at the time.
