A UK nurse tested positive for the CCP virus after his second dose of a two-dose vaccine was delayed.
Staff Registered Nurse David Longden wrote in a
Facebook post over the weekend that he had received his first dose of the vaccine on Dec. 8.
But his second dose, which was due on Jan. 5, was canceled by the Cwm Taf Morgannwg health board in Wales.
Then, four weeks and two days after the initial vaccine, Longden wrote, he tested positive for the
(Chinese Communist Party) CCP virus on Jan 8.
Updated Guidance
Longden said his second dose of what media reports said was the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine was delayed by the health board following UK government advice on the spacing of the two-shot immunization.
The updated advice (
pdf) re-published on Monday says that though the second dose of the jab must be given a minimum of 21 days after the initial inoculation, the second dose “should be routinely scheduled” for at least four but up to 12 weeks after the first.
The spacing advice was updated in the absence of evidence that delaying the second dose significantly increases the risk of catching the virus and as part of a government move to vaccinate more people across the country with at least their first dose.
‘More People to Benefit’
According to the guidance, “This will allow more people to benefit from the protection provided from the first dose during the roll out phase and will have a greater impact in reducing mortality, severe disease, and hospitalization.”It states that “Evidence from Phase 3 trials indicate high levels of protection against serious disease and death from around 2 weeks after the first dose.”
Longer-term protection, it says, will then come after the second dose of the vaccine.
Nevertheless, Longden wrote that the longer gap the government is now recommending between vaccine doses is too long for healthcare workers.
“I feel strongly that all healthcare professionals should have the second dose in line with the manufacturer’s guidelines, i.e., after three weeks,” he wrote.
“Clearly the 90 percent immunity the Government states you get after one dose of the vaccination hasn’t worked for me!” he added.
He called on the government to “rethink their stance on the 12-week delayed second dose.”
One-Shot Vaccine
Longden’s call comes just days after the news that within weeks the UK could start to roll out 30 million doses of a new
one-shot vaccine, speeding up the country’s inoculation program because it only requires one dose to be effective.
Though it is still in large-scale multi-country phase three trials,
according to its developer, U.S. company Janssen, which is part of pharmaceutical giant Johnson & Johnson, it could be submitted for emergency-use approval as early as next month.
The UK government has pre-ordered
30 million doses of the Janssen one-shot vaccine candidate as part of the 350 million doses of various vaccines it has reserved.
