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Eight-week vaccine gap with Pfizer is best for antibodies

pharmafile | July 23, 2021 | News story | Medical Communications  

UK researchers have found an eight-week gap between first and second doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech appears to be the “sweet spot” for offering protection against the Delta variant, as reported in BBC.

The UK initially extended the gap between doses from three weeks to 12 weeks at the end of 2020, but now people are being encouraged to bring their second dose forward and get it after eight weeks.

For the study, the researchers compared the immune responses of 503 NHS staff who received their two shots at different intervals in late 2020 and early 2021.

The study seems to show that both short and long dosing intervals generated strong antibody levels, but a three-week schedule generated fewer of the neutralising antibodies that can bind the virus and stop it infecting cells than a ten-week interval.

Prof Susanna Dunachie, the Joint Chief Investigator in the Pitch study at Oxford University, said: “Eight weeks is about the sweet spot for me, because people do want to get the two vaccine [doses] and there is a lot of Delta out there right now.

“Unfortunately, I can’t see this virus disappearing, so you want to balance that against getting the best protection that you can.”

Dr Rebecca Payne, one of the study authors, from Newcastle University, said: “Our study provides reassuring evidence that both dosing schedules generate robust immune responses against Sars-CoV-2 after two doses.

“We now need to carry out more follow-up studies to understand the full clinical significance of our findings.”

It was also found this week that two shots of either AstraZeneca or Pfizer are effective against the Delta variant.

Lilly Subbotin

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