“Risky” to delay UK second Covid vaccination: ex-FDA director

Postponing the second dose of Covid-19 vaccines is “very risky” because the efficacy data was based on a specific dosage schedule, a former FDA director told CNBC on Thursday.

His comments came after the UK decision Give second shots of the coronavirus vaccine 12 weeks after the first dose, in deviation from the recommendations of the vaccine manufacturer. Germany is Reportedly, a similar move is considering while Denmark approved a six week gap between doses.

The vaccines approved for use in the UK both require two doses.

American pharmaceutical company Pfizer and German biotechnology company BioNTech recommended that the second dose of their vaccine be given 21 days after the first. British-Swedish pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca The vaccine, which he co-developed with Oxford, requires two doses to be given one month apart. The UK initially said it would follow this schedule.

Any decision to change dosing schedules should be based on data, said Norman Baylor, a former director in the US Food and Drug Administration’s office for vaccine research and testing.

“It is very risky to try to extend [the gap between two doses] or give a dose if no data are available, “he told CNBC “Street Signs Asia” on Thursday.

“I can see some reasons for this, but again, it’s not really data-driven,” said Baylor, who is also president and chief executive officer of Biologics Consulting. “It’s a very risky endeavor because if it fails, you will be worse.”

The UK’s controversial decision came as the country continued to grapple with a new strain of coronavirus that is spreading faster, although there is no evidence that it is more severe or deadly. 62,322 cases were reported as of Wednesday and more than 2.8 million people have tested positive for the virus to date. according to government data.

Delaying the second dose of the vaccine means more people can get their first dose. However, Baylor said it was ideal to follow the dosing regimen from the vaccine’s effectiveness studies.

“If you don’t have the data, you are taking a risk there,” he said. “That is the point, the risk you are taking.”