Is it time to delay second doses of coronavirus vaccines?
Two letters to major medical journals this week provide fuel for the argument that in these times of scarce coronavirus vaccine, people can skip their second doses, immediately doubling the supply for others.
In one, researchers at Israel’s largest hospital watched what happened when more than 7,000 staff there got vaccinated. In between their first and second doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine, rates of infected plummeted. By the second to fourth week after the first shot, rates of symptomatic infection were down by 85%.
In a second, Canadian researchers found evidence of more than 90% protection after a single dose of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine.