UK to follow new immunisation strategy for Oxford-AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine. All you need to know

The British government on Wednesday announced that it will follow a new immunisation strategy for Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine against the coronavirus disease (Covid-19). The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) has recommended inoculating as many people as possible with the first dose before offering others their second dose. The recommendations were published soon after the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) approved AstraZeneca’s Covid-19 vaccine.

Here’s all you need to know about the new immunisation strategy:

1. The researchers and regulators have reportedly found that the first dose of AstraZeneca’s AZD1222 offers “very effective protection” from coronavirus, providing a longer period of immunity before receiving a second dose.

2. The JCVI said that the protection is obtained around two weeks after receiving the first dose of AstraZeneca’s Covid-19 vaccine.

3. According to the committee, the second dose of AstraZeneca’s vaccine can be offered 4 to 12 weeks after the first dose to maximise benefits from the vaccination programme in the short term.

4. While the JCVI has recommended that both the AstraZeneca and the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines are safe and provide high-levels of protection against Covid-19, the two doses of Pfizer’s vaccine must be administered three weeks apart.

5. It further stated that there are some data from the AstraZeneca vaccine trials suggesting that extending the time to the second dose may be better than having the second dose earlier.

6. The committee has also advised not to skip the second dose as it may be important for longer-lasting protection, however, adding that the exact duration of protection is currently unknown.

7. The committee said that the initial phase of the vaccine programme is estimated to cover around 99% of preventable Covid-19 deaths.

UK health secretary Matt Hancock told Sky News that the new immunisation strategy for AstraZeneca can allow the authorities to provide the first dose to people “more quickly” and they can get the effective protection offered by the first dose. He also highlighted the advantages of AstraZeneca’s vaccine over other Covid-19 vaccines in terms of cost and storage feasibility.

“It’s good news for the whole world because this vaccine is relatively cheap to produce...because it’s relatively easy to handle and just can be stored at a normal fridge temperature,” he said.