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The “brake” on the dream of vaccination, which the entire planet waits to end the coronavirus, seems to come from the first day of 2021, which does not start with the best omens, despite the fact that the entire planet had deposited their hopes in this for the end of the deadly pandemic.
Most likely this will happen, that is, the first day of 2022 the coronavirus will be a bad memory -not so far away-, however vaccination does not seem to be as close as we thought the previous days. This is because more than 50 countries, including Greece, may have started vaccinations, but the schedule seems to be going further and further.
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The announcement by BioNTech, a company working with Pfizer on the only vaccine that has been approved worldwide so far, that there may be gaps in deliveries until more vaccines are distributed, did not burst like lightning. He went on to confirm fears voiced by experts and the media that Europe had bought fewer vaccines than its 27 countries needed, as the United States and Britain scrambled to buy enough doses to vaccinate the population.
In fact, this issue had sparked a strong reaction from the EU, with the Commission representative emphasizing that when the procedures were started, no one knew which vaccine would be approved, so he preferred to conclude agreements with many promising companies, instead to get many. single shots.
In fact, many countries are already forced to suspend the vaccination of the population with the second dose. The first to make such a move was Great Britain, which after seeing that vaccines weren’t enough decided to postpone the second dose as it wants to administer the first dose of vaccines to as many high-risk people as possible. There are also “voices” in Germany in favor of a postponement of the second dose, while the US a day before the end of 2020 announced that they had dropped by … 17 million vaccinations outside, after estimating that by the end of the year In the past 20 million people had been vaccinated, with the number of people being … just under 3 million.
Of course, our country is not in a better position, since compared to the vaccination forecasts of 70% of Greeks for Easter, according to official announcements, it will have received only 1,250,000 doses of the vaccine at the end of March. This means that 625,000 people will have been vaccinated. That is, about 5% of the citizens of Greece.
All this at a time when Europe is racing to save what is being saved and announces the purchase of another 100 million vaccines, while other companies, such as AstraZeneca, are fighting for their vaccine to be approved and to be able to withdraw it. “battle”. Moderna, which has received approval in the US and is expected to receive approval from the European Medicines Agency on January 6, is on its way.
It is worth noting at this point that, according to scientists around the world, to return to normalcy, 70% of the world’s population must be vaccinated. That is roughly 5.4 billion people.
“There may be delays in vaccine deliveries to the EU”
In the latest and perhaps largest chronic “hit,” pharmaceutical company BioNTech announced that it is cooperating with Pfizer to increase production of its covid-19 vaccine, Ugur Sahin CEO noted, warning that there may be gaps. in deliveries until other vaccines begin to ship.
The German startup may have won the vaccine race, as it was the first to be approved for use, but there are delays in the distribution of vaccines in the EU, which are due, among other things, to the relatively small order placed by Brussels. and the delay in the approval of other vaccines by the European Medicines Agency (Coreper).
Britain postponed second dose of vaccination
It was preceded by Great Britain, which, faced with a dramatic increase in cases, had to postpone the second dose to administer the first dose of the vaccine to as many high-risk people as possible.
The decision, announced on Wednesday, makes Britain the first country to adjust its vaccination strategy, rather than following the timetable set by the pharmaceutical industry.
The change in strategy, proposed by former Prime Minister Tony Blair, comes after the creation of the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunization (JCVI), according to which clinical trials have shown adequate protection after the first dose.
However, the government assured that “everyone will receive the second dose within 12 weeks after the first. The second dose complements the first and is important for long-term protection.”
Under the new plan, the second dose of the Pfizer / BioNtech vaccine will be given 3 to 12 weeks after the first, rather than 21 days later. Similarly, the second dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine will be given 4 to 12 weeks after the first injection.
Experts in Germany propose postponing repeat vaccination
This was followed by Germany, which, given the relatively small number of vaccines currently available, is considering postponing the second dose of vaccination.
“Since the time between the two vaccinations can probably vary within certain limits and since the protection is very good even after the first vaccination, it is worth considering, given that there is a shortage of vaccines, whether it can be administered initially alone.” said Thomas Mertens, chairman of the Robert Koch Institute’s Standing Committee on Vaccines (Stiko) on RTL.
Infectious disease specialist Hendrik Streek, a professor at the University of Bonn, made a similar statement to RTL. “The data show that more than half of those vaccinated were already adequately protected after the first vaccination. So if they do the second vaccine later, we can really double the number of people vaccinated with the first available batches. But first there must be a discussion about this. “It is not an easy decision, but it would be a way to vaccinate more people quickly.”
Many UK experts have hailed the decision as a sensible approach to tackling the vaccine shortage. However, they also noted that effectiveness is lower after the first dose and it remains to be seen in practice whether this vaccination strategy actually works.
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