In a document sent to the Public Health Commission to be debated and approved this Tuesday in an extraordinary meeting, the Spanish Ministry of Health now proposed to delay the second dose of Pfizer and Moderna prophylaxis.
Although it had been stated that such a delay would not take place, in order to increase the rate of immunizations now it could be postponed this second dose specifically between 6 and 8 weeks among people under 80 years of age. Finally, however, this new strategy will not be adopted.
Other countries that do
This practice, which does not have the approval of the EMA (the data sheet Pfizer does not contemplate a delay in the immunization schedule), however was adopted by Israel and the United Kingdom at the beginning of the year. Although the strategy was viewed with a lot of skepticism at the time, it seems that finally has had good results.
There are already several countries that are following this line. Ireland, for example, has extended Pfizer's second deadline from 21 to 28 days. Denmark, Germany, France and Italy They recommend an interval of 6 weeks for Pfizer and Moderna. Finland has placed all second doses at 12 weeks. The United Kingdom also extended the second doses of all vaccines to 12 weeks, and Canada, to four months.
It should be noted that the EMA does not prohibit extending the administration of the second dose up to 42 days (the product information does not explicitly determine the upper limit between doses), what it suggests, for the moment, is that We are not sure if this new space between vaccines can guarantee the same effectiveness confirmed by clinical trials.
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The news
The vaccination strategy in Spain is not altered: Health will not space out the second dose of Pfizer and Moderna
was originally published in
Xataka Science
by
Sergio Parra
.