While the vaccination campaign continues, the U.K. is fearing a shortage of vaccines
Decision 2: Mixing vaccines
While the vaccination campaign continues, the U.K. is fearing a shortage of vaccines. “Currently the main barrier is vaccine availability,” U.K.’s chief medical officers wrote. “Vaccine shortage is a reality that cannot be wished away.”
This raises a second question and a second, even more controversial, decision. What should happen if there aren’t enough vaccines for a second dose? The U.K. decided that in certain circumstances, mixing different vaccines is “reasonable.” Meaning a person could, theoretically, receive the first dose of Pfizer’s vaccine and the second dose of AstraZeneca’s vaccine or vice versa. As the U.K. government’s Green Book for vaccinations states:
For individuals who started the schedule and who attend for vaccination at a site where the same vaccine is not available, or if the first product received is unknown, it is reasonable to offer one dose of the locally available product to complete the schedule.
While the decision states that this approach should only be taken as a last resort, in rare cases, and preferably only with high-risk individuals — again, criticism came quickly.
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“There are no data on this idea whatsoever,” John Moore from Cornell University told the New York Times. “[Officials in the U.K.] seem to have abandoned science completely now and are just trying to guess their way out of a mess,” he added.
“This was not tested anywhere, it looks like a complete act of desperation,” professor Ran Balicer, a public health expert from Clalit Health in Israel tells me. There were many other similar concerns.
Following the criticism, health officials in the U.K. released a clarification stating that “mixing coronavirus vaccines is not recommended” and would only occur in extremely rare cases. The new, controversial guideline still stands.
More to come
It is safe to assume that with the progression of vaccination campaigns in the U.K. and elsewhere around the world, more questions and tough decisions will arise. The Covid-19 pandemic has formed an unprecedented short timeline, and so answers are needed in real time and without all the data to back them up.
“There are dozens of decisions that need to be made about HOW a vaccine that is safe and effective on an individual-level Should be used to control a disease at the population-level,” wrote Dr. Nicole Basta, an associate professor of epidemiology at McGill University in Montréal, Canada. “In normal times we would launch studies … these studies take time. Decisions will need to be made before results are available.”
The U.K. was already blamed for conducting a dangerous experiment at the start of the pandemic, acting in what seems like pushing for herd immunity. This approach was later blamed for costing the lives of thousands.
Today, many experts are closely examining the U.K.’s recent two decisions regarding the Covid-19 vaccines and hoping that these “experiments” won’t end the same way.
Decision 2: Mixing vaccines
While the vaccination campaign continues, the U.K. is fearing a shortage of vaccines. “Currently the main barrier is vaccine availability,” U.K.’s chief medical officers wrote. “Vaccine shortage is a reality that cannot be wished away.”
This raises a second question and a second, even more controversial, decision. What should happen if there aren’t enough vaccines for a second dose? The U.K. decided that in certain circumstances, mixing different vaccines is “reasonable.” Meaning a person could, theoretically, receive the first dose of Pfizer’s vaccine and the second dose of AstraZeneca’s vaccine or vice versa. As the U.K. government’s Green Book for vaccinations states:
For individuals who started the schedule and who attend for vaccination at a site where the same vaccine is not available, or if the first product received is unknown, it is reasonable to offer one dose of the locally available product to complete the schedule.
While the decision states that this approach should only be taken as a last resort, in rare cases, and preferably only with high-risk individuals — again, criticism came quickly.
“There are no data on this idea whatsoever,” John Moore from Cornell University told the New York Times. “[Officials in the U.K.] seem to have abandoned science completely now and are just trying to guess their way out of a mess,” he added.
“This was not tested anywhere, it looks like a complete act of desperation,” professor Ran Balicer, a public health expert from Clalit Health in Israel tells me. There were many other similar concerns.
Following the criticism, health officials in the U.K. released a clarification stating that “mixing coronavirus vaccines is not recommended” and would only occur in extremely rare cases. The new, controversial guideline still stands.
More to come
It is safe to assume that with the progression of vaccination campaigns in the U.K. and elsewhere around the world, more questions and tough decisions will arise. The Covid-19 pandemic has formed an unprecedented short timeline, and so answers are needed in real time and without all the data to back them up.
“There are dozens of decisions that need to be made about HOW a vaccine that is safe and effective on an individual-level Should be used to control a disease at the population-level,” wrote Dr. Nicole Basta, an associate professor of epidemiology at McGill University in Montréal, Canada. “In normal times we would launch studies … these studies take time. Decisions will need to be made before results are available.”
The U.K. was already blamed for conducting a dangerous experiment at the start of the pandemic, acting in what seems like pushing for herd immunity. This approach was later blamed for costing the lives of thousands.
Today, many experts are closely examining the U.K.’s recent two decisions regarding the Covid-19 vaccines and hoping that these “experiments” won’t end the same way.