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Written question asked by Claudia Webbe (Independent (affiliation)) on Wednesday, 3 February 2021, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Monday, 8 February 2021. It was answered by Nadhim Zahawi (Conservative) on Thursday, 18 March 2021 on behalf of the Department of Health and Social Care.

Coronavirus: Vaccination

Question

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department has made an assessment of worst-case scenario if it is proven that protection from a single dose of the Pfizer/BioNTech covid-19 vaccine does not persist after 21 days.

Answer

After studying all the available data, the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) concluded that the first dose of either Pfizer-BioNTech or Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine provided substantial protection from severe COVID-19 disease within two to three weeks of vaccination.  Whilst the second vaccine dose is important to sustain the protection and extend its duration, in the short term the additional impact of the second dose is likely to be modest and most of the initial protection from clinical disease is after the first dose of vaccine.

The latest data from Public Health England, published on 1 March showed that  both the Pfizer and Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccines are highly effective in reducing COVID-19 infections among older people aged 70 years old and over. Since January protection against symptomatic COVID-19, four weeks after the first dose, ranged between 57 and 61% for one dose of Pfizer and between 60 and 73% for the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine.

No specific assessment has been made.   The decision to extend the dosing interval to up to twelve weeks was based on advice from the JCVI and United Kingdom’s four Chief Medical Officers.

Secondary information

Type
Written question
Reference
148961
Session
2019-21
Grouped for answer
Yes
Subjects
Vaccination Pfizer Coronavirus BioNTech
Link
View this Written question on www.parliament.uk