One vial of Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine – Soeren Stache / AP / SIPA
The BioNTech laboratory warned on Tuesday that the maximum effectiveness of its vaccine against Covid – 19 was not demonstrated if the second injection is delayed, strategy applied or considered by several countries to vaccinate more people.
“The efficacy and safety of
vaccine have not been evaluated for other dosing schedules ”than the two spaced injections of 20 days applied during the clinical trial, explained the German company, which developed with the American Pfizer the first vaccine authorized in the United States and in the ‘EU.
Several countries will space out the doses
Faced with limited stocks of this product, Denmark announced Monday to space the two doses up to six weeks; the United Kingdom, which authorized the vaccine before the EU, at the beginning of December, is allowing until weeks between the two injections.
“This way we can immunize more people now,” explained the head of the Danish National Health Agency, Søren Brostrøm , questioned by public television TV2, stressing that this analysis was based on the documentation presented by the laboratories which reports a second dose received “between 12 and 21 days ”after the first.
In Germany, the Ministry of Health has asked the health authorities to assess options to extend the deadline, according to a document consulted Monday by AFP. “Even if data shows that there is partial protection from days after the first dose, there is no data to show that protection remains in place beyond 21 days ”, explained a spokesperson for BioNTech.
“We believe that a second injection is necessary to provide maximum protection against the disease Adds the Mainz-based company specializing in messenger RNA. However, “decisions on alternative dosing regimens are made by national health authorities” with which the laboratory is in “continuous dialogue”. The decisions also concern the Moderna vaccine in Denmark, which is currently being approved by the European Union, and that of AstraZeneca in the British case.