There is a lot of confusion out there about the second doses of the COVID-19 vaccine.
The launch of the COVID-19 vaccine was chaotic in California. The guidance on how to get the second dose has changed from “you have to make your own appointment” to “we’ll let you know when you get back” to “OK, you should listen to us, but if you don’t, just come back.” The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health admitted on Twitter that it had been stressful.
People are also concerned about the timing of the second dose. At the LA Times Tip Line, we have received inquiries about second dose consultations that are not accurately timed after the first.
In its clinical trials, Pfizer administered the second dose 21 days after the first. For Moderna, it was 28 days. According to the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the second dose should be administered as close as possible to the recommended date. But full precision is not necessary.
If it is a little earlier, this is allowed: “Second doses given within a four-day grace period before the recommended date for the second dose are still considered valid,” says the CDC on its website.
A few weeks later it is also fine. “If it is not feasible to adhere to the recommended interval and a delay in vaccination is unavoidable, the second dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines can be administered within six weeks (42 days) after the first dose.”
Dr. Diane Griffin is a virologist at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, who studies immune responses to viral infections and vaccines. She said in an interview with The Times that although there are no studies on the effectiveness of these vaccines when the second dose is not given at the right time, based on what we know about other vaccines and immune responses, there is no reason why it will not work as well. .
“I think that perfection is the enemy of good,” she said.
In other words: don’t stress because your second dose is a little sooner or later. The important thing is that you understand.
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The team editor, Amina Khan, contributed to this report.