Experts don’t yet know how often people will need to be vaccinated against Covid
Experts do not yet know how often people will have to receive a jab to protect them against Covid-19 and it could be different for various individuals.
The NHS today began rolling out its biggest mass vaccination programme in history, after Britain’s health watchdog approved Pfizer/BioNTech’s vaccine last week.
Those most at risk of the virus, including the over-80s, care home residents and staff, are first in line to receive the jab and will require a second dose 21 days later.
Pfizer admitted it does not yet know how often people will need to be vaccinated after the first two doses and said it will continue to analyse volunteers who took part in the breakthrough trials.
A spokesperson told Huffpost UK: ‘Study participants will continue to be monitored for long-term protection and safety for an additional two years after their second dose.’
And there have been differing timeframes given of how long people will acquire immunity after receiving the second dose.
Advisory body the Commission on Human Medicine (CHM) said today that Pfizer’s candidate offers full immunity seven days after the second jab, but that ‘partial immunity’ occurs after the first.
But Sir Patrick Vallance warned it could take at least a month or longer before the immune system ‘kicks in’ and fully protects people.
Although many Britons will have the opportunity to receive the vaccine next year, he said face masks may still be required late into 2021.
The Government’s chief scientific adviser told Sky News: ‘This is incredibly important and it is important that we all stick to the rules in the meantime – the rules are what’s keeping the virus down now, we need to keep the virus down while we allow the vaccine programme to roll out.
‘It may be that next winter, even with vaccination, we need measures like masks in place – we don’t know yet how good all the vaccines are going to be at preventing the transmission of the virus.’
He explained that although the vaccine prevents the virus taking hold in the body, experts do not yet know if it prevents transmission among those who have had the jab and those who have not.
Sir Patrick added: ‘It’s going to take quite a long time to make sure everybody in the at-risk groups and all of the groups that are difficult to reach get vaccinated as appropriate.’
Professor Daniel Altmann, of the department of immunology and inflammation at Imperial College London, said the question of how often people will need to be vaccinated will not be a ‘one-size-fits-all’ response.
He told Huffpost UK: ‘If we can come through the huge challenge of efficient, mass distribution and vaccination with a high level of uptake – and none of these is a sure thing – the next question will be some large scale monitoring to understand stability of immunity.
‘This won’t be a simple one-size-fits-all answer. Durability may be different with: age, obesity, prior infection, genetics. So we need to keep checking. We’ll then know if we need to re-immunise at one year, two years, etc.’
Margaret Keenan, 90, became the first person in the world to receive the jab in Coventry this morning, followed by 81-year-old William Shakespeare.
The doses will be administered in dozens of hospitals across the country from today to the over-80s, NHS staff and care home workers – in a historic moment dubbed ‘V-Day’ by the health secretary.
The vaccine is typically delivered by a simple injection in the shoulder, but there is a complex logistical challenge to transport the doses.
It needs to be stored at -70C before being thawed out and can only be moved four times within that cold chain ahead of use.
A wider vaccination programme is expected to be in place next year, with hospital hubs, vaccination centres and other community locations, as well as GP practices and pharmacies, joining in the huge effort to inoculate the population.
Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.
For more stories like this, check our news page.