Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 18 January 2021 to Question 134547 on Coronavirus: Vaccination, on what basis the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) consider that protective immunity from the first dose of the Pfizer/BioNTech covid-19 vaccine likely lasts for a duration of 12 weeks; what the maximum likely duration is that the JCVI considers that protective immunity is provided from the first dose of the Pfizer/BioNTech covid-19 vaccine; what the basis is for that view; whether Pfizer/BioNTech has expressed a view on the JCVI's position on that matter; and whether the JCVI has considered the novel mRNA nature of the Pfizer/BioNTech covid-19 vaccine as part of its consideration on that matter.

The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) has reviewed evidence on the efficacy of the first dose of the Pfizer/BioNTech and Oxford/AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccines.

The estimated efficacy from the first dose of the Pfizer/BioNTech is 89%, calculated 15 to 21 days after the first dose. There is no estimate for this beyond 21 days. Noting the novel nature of the vaccines and considering evidence on the AstraZeneca vaccine and other non-COVID-19 vaccines used in the United Kingdom, the JCVI is of the view that protective immunity from the first dose is likely to last for a duration of 12 weeks.

The JCVI advises initially prioritising delivery of the first vaccine dose as this is highly likely to have a greater public health impact in the short term and reduce the number of preventable deaths from COVID-19. The UK Chief Medical Officers had previously released a letter to the medical profession regarding the UK COVID-19 vaccination programmes, stating that they support a 12-week dosing interval to achieve good longer-term protection. This is available at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/letter-to-the-profession-from-the-uk-chief-medical-officers-on-the-uk-covid-19-vaccination-programmes/letter-to-the-profession-from-the-uk-chief-medical-officers-regarding-the-uk-covid-19-vaccination-programmes

The JCVI’s advice was published on 31 December 2020 and is available at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/prioritising-the-first-covid-19-vaccine-dose-jcvi-statement

The JCVI has not received any comment from Pfizer on this issue.