December 21

The debate about whether the second vaccine doses can safely be delayed is ongoing:

The BBC website https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-55734257 maintains that the results of the Israeli study have been taken “Out of context”.

Professor Stephen Evans, of the London School And Tropical medicine says: “The reports that have come from Israel are insufficient to provide any evidence that the current UK policy in regard to delaying the second dose of vaccines is in any way incorrect.”

But publications such as the British Medical Journal Blog; https://blogs.bmj.com/bmj/2021/01/20/revisiting-the-uks-strategy-for-delaying-the-second-dose-of-the-pfizer-covid-19-vaccine/ are far less certain about the wisdom of delaying.

“Public health, medical, and scientific support has been divided. Support for a “finely balanced decision” has come from speciality medical royal colleges, the Academy of Medical Sciences, and the British Society of Immunology. The NHS currently faces enormous pressures from an unrelenting covid-19 pandemic and critical care is in crisis. [3] Therefore vaccinating as many people as possible, and as soon as possible is of great urgency. However, support for delaying the second dose has not always addressed the supply issues and scientific concerns underpinning the case for delaying the second mRNA dose. Some scientists have opposed the delay, especially to the Pfizer vaccine, due to a lack of evidence of effectiveness and potential risks, both personally to individuals vaccinated in this way and to the population at large.

International organisations such as the Centre for Disease Control (CDC), the World Health Organization (WHO), and regulatory bodies such as the Food and Drugs Administration (FDA) in the US; and the European Medicines Agency (EMA) have advised that the vaccination schedules, as defined from the published peer reviewed studies from Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna (the other mRNA vaccine), should be followed (respectively 1/22 day and 1/29 day first/second dose vaccinations). [5] The German and US governments have recently stated that they do not intend to delay the second covid-19 vaccine shot and Pfizer and Moderna do not support the delay strategy.”

Maybe it’s because I’m a slavish adherent to rules that, though I understand the political imperative to get as many people vaccinated as quickly as possible so we can boast about having done it FIRST !!!!, I can’t for the life of me see a legitimate reason why our government should be ignoring the manufacturer’s instructions and making up this most serious medical protocol as they go along. I hope this decision will be revisited FAST.

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This beautiful crop of lemons from the tree on our terrace is now reduced to this far less beautiful jar of lemon curd – yes, just the one jar!