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What to Know About Delayed Vaccine Doses and the Potential for Mutation
Some scientists have raised concerns about ‘escape mutants’
The U.K. recently made the controversial decision to delay administration of the second dose of the Covid-19 vaccines. The U.K. has approved vaccines from Pfizer/BioNTech, Moderna, and Oxford/AstraZeneca, all of which require two doses, administered at least 21 days apart. The decision will allow the doses to be administered up to 12 weeks apart.
This choice is controversial for a number of reasons. Critics argue that the data from the clinical trials don’t support such a move, and it’s not known what will happen if the protocols are changed. Though U.K. medical officers argue that the first dose will provide the “majority” of immunity, some say this partial protection may not be enough. Anthony Fauci, MD, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, has advised against delaying the second dose in the U.S.
Some have raised the concern that delaying the second dose of the vaccine could create conditions that lead to a vaccine-resistant strain of the virus. On January 1, Rockefeller University virology professor Paul Bienasz, PhD, tweeted a document with the caption “Musings of an anonymous pissed off virologist,” in which he criticized the plan to…
