Covid-19: An Ode To The British Vaccination Strategy

 (Drivebycuriosity) - It seems the Covid-19 pandemic is nearing her end. A great number of nations are already vaccinating their populations against the virus. Unfortunately the vaccination progress is very slow because the number of available vaccines doses is still low. 

The majority of the countries follow the recommendations of the pharma companies and plan to give everyone 2 doses. Pfizer-BioNTech recommended giving the second doses 21 days after the first, Moderna recommended injecting the second dose 28 days after the first and Astra Zeneca talked about 6 weeks. These recommendations are based their clinical studies conducted last year.

 

 

 

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Great Britain, who uses Astra-Zeneca & Pfizer-BioNTech, chose a different strategy, called "first-dose-first" (FDF). The British delay the second dose some months which allows them to vaccinate twice the number of people in a short time. UK injected 35 doses per 100 people so far and 33% of the population got already the first dose (ourworldindata ). The US administered 28 doses per 100 people, but just 18% of the US population got the first dose, most of the recent injections were second doses.

New findings support the British strategy. It turned out that AstraZeneca works better when the second dose is injected after three months (not just after four weeks spiegel.de). According to AstraZeneca a longer waiting time raises the efficacy by 80% (papers ). The Covid-19 vaccine developed by Pfizer & BioNTech generates robust immunity after one dose and can be stored in ordinary freezers instead of at ultracold temperatures, according to new research and data released by the companies (marginalrevolution).  A single shot of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine is 85% effective in preventing symptomatic disease 15 to 28 days after being administered, according to a peer-reviewed study conducted by the Israeli government-owned Sheba Medical Center and published in the Lancet medical journal.

 

 

 

 

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The British FDF strategy is superior. Vaccinating more people with the available doses saves more lives. The tables above this paragraph show the declining number of new confirmed cases and new hospital admissions, caused by sharp lockdowns and progressively by vaccinations.

In the US about 85% are still unprotected, in Great Britain the number went down to 65%. The British strategy helps to stop the spread of the pandemic because it reduces the number of people who could infect others faster than the 2-doses strategy. With fewer infected hosts, there are fewer opportunities for new mutations to arise—reducing available genetic variation on which selection can act. The FDF strategy also allows to reopen the economy faster without causing another wave

And there is another advantage: People who receive the second dose some months later may get a better version of the vaccine. New mutations challenge the original vaccines which have been developed last year. The pharma firms are already working on advanced vaccines which should protect against new Covid-19 variants. British people, who will get the second dose later in some months, will then get newer and may better vaccines (marginalrevolution ).

It is sad that not all countries practice the FDF strategy.