display

In order to enable high-risk groups to be vaccinated as quickly as possible across the board, the independent Committee on Vaccination and Immunization (JCVI) recommended that initially only one vaccine dose be administered.

The second dose could then follow within twelve instead of three weeks.

The UK Medicines Agency MHRA had previously granted emergency approval to the vector vaccine from Astra Zeneca and Oxford University.

This means that there are currently two different vaccines available in Great Britain - the EU-wide approved mRNA vaccine from Biontech and Pfizer and the vaccine from Astra Zeneca.

This raises the question of whether the British strategy of a delayed second vaccination dose might also be a sensible way for Germany to be able to vaccinate more quickly in view of the shortage of vaccine doses.

display

“Basically, the British approach makes a lot of sense,” says Professor Peter Kremsner, Director of the Institute for Tropical Medicine at the University of Tübingen, “as with other vaccinations, the second dose can probably be given after two to three months, since the first dose is already there apparently achieved high effectiveness.

If the effect of the first vaccination does not decrease rapidly over time, the second vaccination could also take place later, for example after six months.

We do not know that, yet.

This is also done with other vaccines. "

"In view of the current shortage of vaccines and the very high number of infections and hospitalizations, however, I consider a strategy in which as many people as possible to be vaccinated at an early stage to be more effective than withholding vaccine doses for the second vaccination," says Professor Leif Erik Sander, head of the Infection Immunology research group and vaccine research at Berlin University Hospital Charité.

"Gaining valuable time in the fight against Covid-19"

"In my opinion, accepting a possibly longer interval up to the second vaccination is at least unobjectionable for the mRNA vaccines - from Biontech / Pfizer and Moderna, since the vaccinations in the studies offer a very high level of protection against just ten days after the first injection Covid-19 showed.

In my opinion, the booster vaccination can be given a little delayed without any major compromises in terms of effectiveness, ”continues Sander,“ with this we could vaccinate faster and gain valuable time in the fight against Covid-19.

This is surely only a temporary strategy, but care should be taken that all vaccinated persons receive a second vaccination in the course of the process in order to ensure long-term protection. "

display

The chairman of the Standing Vaccination Commission (Stiko), Professor emeritus Thomas Mertens, former Medical Director of the Institute for Virology at the Ulm University Hospital, comes to a similar assessment: “Basically, two vaccinations should be given.

Since the interval between the two vaccinations can very likely vary within wide limits and the protection is already very good even after a vaccination, it is worth considering giving the first vaccination first if there is a lack of vaccines. "

However, in the case of corona vaccinations in this country, it should stay with theoretical considerations for the time being, because Kremsner also makes it unmistakably clear: "We are bound by the approval specification, and it stipulates that the second dose takes place after three weeks." this scheme would also lead to further logistical challenges.

90-year-old Margaret Keenan was the first to be vaccinated against Corona in the UK

Source: dpa

Both Kremsner and Mertens assume that the current shortage of vaccine doses available in Germany will decrease in a few weeks.

"I think it will get better in a week or two," predicts Kremsner.

And Mertens hopes that the vaccine deliveries will be reliable and that further vaccines will be approved.

"However, this should definitely continue to follow the previous criteria," emphasizes Mertens.