Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what advice he has received from Pfizer/BionTech on the implications for (a) patient safety and (b) efficacy of administering the second dose of their covid-19 vaccine more than 21 days after the first dose.

A phase three clinical trial study on the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine efficacy demonstrated a two-dose vaccine efficacy of 95% with a second dose delivered between 19 and 42 days. The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) is of the view that the first dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine is likely to provide protection for at least 12 weeks.

The four United Kingdom Chief Medical Officers agreed with the JCVI, that at this stage of the pandemic, prioritising the first doses of vaccine for as many people as possible on the priority list will protect the greatest number of at risk people overall, in the shortest possible time, preventing mortality and protecting the National Health Service. From data available to the JCVI, the first dose of either Pfizer/BioNTech or Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine provides substantial protection within two to three weeks of vaccination for clinical disease and in particular severe COVID-19 disease.