PandemicExperts Tout Delaying 2nd COVID Vaccine Dose as U.S. Deaths Mount

Following record COVID-19 deaths in January, several U.S. experts extolled the benefits of vaccinating as many people as possible with one dose of COVID vaccine before ensuring people receive the recommended second dose.

Dose-Delaying Strategy Gains Traction
Some public health experts are urging the federal government via the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC’s) Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP), to immediately review data from Pfizer and Moderna, which are approved for use as two doses given 3 to 4 weeks apart, and consider giving as many first doses to people 65 and older as quickly as possible, and not withhold vaccines for planned second doses.

Such a dosing strategy has already been used in the United Kingdom and Israel, two countries further ahead in vaccinating their populations than the United States.

“The maximum public health benefit would come from giving a single dose to as many people as possible, and following up with a second dose when supply improves,” said Neal Halsey, MD, of Johns Hopkins University, in an interview. Halsey and Stanley Plotkin, MD, co-authored a letter in Clinical Infectious Diseases last week explaining how delaying a second dose of vaccine would accelerate the US vaccine rollout.

Halsey said data from both companies show the first dose of the vaccine offers significant protection against COVID-19 in the short term, for at least 1 to 3 months after injection. He also said he and Plotkin believe this was the most beneficial public health strategy even before the arrival of new variants of the virus was discovered.

“There are a number of examples of changing [vaccination] course because ACIP takes into account public health impact,” Halsey said. “We asked the ACIP to review in depth this strategy to give one dose as rapidly as possible. Such a meeting should be scheduled as soon as possible.”

The University of Minnesota’s Michael Osterholm, PhD, MPH, said Sunday on “Meet the Press”  that he believes the United States has to change direction on vaccine strategy in light of the possibility of a surge of new infections coming from variant strains.

“If we have anything similar as in England, we could have 200,000 to 220,000 people hospitalized on a given day in the US, when our worst day so far has been 130,000,” said Osterholm in an interview. He is director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy (CIDRAP), which publishes CIDRAP News.