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BERLIN / COPENHAGEN: Germany was weighing on Monday (January 4) whether to allow a delay in the administration of a second dose of the COVID-19 vaccine from BioNTech and Pfizer to push scarce supplies further, after a similar measure from Great Britain last week.
On Monday, Denmark approved a delay of up to six weeks between the first and second injections of the vaccine.
In Berlin, the Health Ministry was seeking the opinion of an independent vaccination commission on whether to delay a second injection beyond the current maximum limit of 42 days, according to a one-page document seen by Reuters on Monday.
The move came amid criticism of Health Minister Jens Spahn, including from his conservative political allies, that Germany has failed to obtain enough vaccines and has been too slow to accelerate its national vaccination campaign.
Spahn told his Christian Democratic Union in a closed-door meeting on Monday that he hoped to offer vaccines this summer to everyone in Germany, once again the vaccines have gained regulatory approval, according to sources in attendance.
Some German health experts have welcomed Britain’s move to delay the administration of a second dose of the BioNTech-Pfizer injection, which comes as governments try to protect as many people as possible from the coronavirus by giving them one injection and delaying a second.
“In view of the current vaccine shortage and the extremely high number of infections and hospitalizations (in Germany), a strategy in which as many people as possible are vaccinated as soon as possible is more effective,” said Leif-Erik Sander, Director. from the vaccine research team at the Charité hospital in Berlin.
However, BioNTech and Pfizer noted in a joint statement the lack of evidence data to support the second dose delay.
“The safety and efficacy of the vaccine has not been evaluated in different dosing schedules, as the majority of trial participants received the second dose within the window specified in the study design,” the companies said, referring to a main injection and a booster dose given three weeks apart.
“There is no data to show that protection after the first dose is maintained after 21 days.”
The European Medicines Agency said that a maximum interval of 42 days must be respected between the first and second injections of the Pfizer-BioNtech vaccine to obtain complete protection.
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According to the latest daily update from the Robert Koch Institute, Germany has vaccinated some 239,000 people since it began its campaign on December 27, well below the 1.3 million doses that were delivered at the end of 2020.
For comparison, the UK has administered more than a million COVID-19 vaccines so far, more than the rest of Europe combined, Health Minister Matt Hancock said.
DANISH MOVEMENT
The Danish Health Authority will allow a wait of up to six weeks before administering a second dose, its director, Soren Brostrom, told local news cable Ritzau on Monday, after analyzing the vaccine data.
But Brostrom said the original guidelines of waiting only three to four weeks should be followed whenever possible.
“If it goes more than six weeks, we can’t see the scientific evidence that it’s protected with certainty. So we can’t recommend that,” Brostrom added.
As of Monday, a total of 46,975 Danes had received the first Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, mostly healthcare workers and the elderly.
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While a longer interval between injections has not been tested in clinical trials, some scientists said it was a sensible plan under the extraordinary circumstances.
European Union approval for a Moderna vaccine, expected this week, should add another 1.5 million doses of supply in the coming weeks, according to the German Health Ministry document.
In total, Germany, which has around 83 million inhabitants, should receive 50 million doses of the Moderna vaccine this year under procurement contracts across the EU.
Regarding the AstraZeneca vaccine approved last week by Britain, the German Health Ministry said that the ongoing review by the European Medicines Agency was being carried out under “high pressure.”
“The objective is, as soon as possible, to decide the way forward and the scope of approval” of the AstraZeneca vaccine, according to the document.
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