The US government is considering using the second recommended dose of approved COVID-19 vaccines to inoculate more people during a first round, according to Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.
” I still think that if done correctly, you can take a single dose, reserve doses for the second dose and still get the job done ” Fauci said Thursday on NBC’s Today Show. But there is a lot of discussion about whether or not you want to spread the initial vaccination by vaccinating more people in the first round. ”
Of the two vaccines approved, both proved to be 95% effective. But for this rate of effectiveness, the injection of Pfizer requires a second dose 21 days after the first and Modern 28 days after the initial injection.
Currently, the federal government is withholding some of the vaccines received for the second recommended dose. But the current discussion is to dismiss this plan, said Fauci.
“One of the problems with doing this is if you don’t take your second dose in time, you will have a delay,” he said. And we know from the clinical trial that the ideal time is to administer it in one day, for Moderna 28 days later and for Pfizer 21 days later. That’s what the data tells us to do. So, if you want to keep the data, this is how you should do it. ”
Fauci did not seem to be committing himself to his recommendation, saying: ” You could debate this anyway. “
Fauci admitted that since only 2.8 million of the 14 million doses received were injected, the United States government missed its goal of inoculating 20 million by the end of the year. However, he expects the pace to pick up in January.
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