CDC recommends COVID-19 vaccine doses may be spaced 6 weeks apart

*Although recommended schedule for the Coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccines is between three and four weeks, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says longer timing is suitable only if is impossible to get shots on time

Isola Moses | ConsumerConnect

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has said consumers may receive their follow-up doses of the COVID-19 vaccines as much as six weeks later if it is not feasible to get them in the recommended interval.

The US health regulatory agency in the guidance posted in a January 21, 2021, update to its website noted that a second dose should be administered as close to the recommended schedule as possible, either three weeks for the Pfizer Inc.-BioNTech SE vaccine or four weeks for the Moderna Inc. shot.

However, if it is impossible to get the follow-up shot on time, the CDC says people may schedule it as much as six weeks, or 42 days, after their initial dose.

The guidance stated there is “limited data on efficacy” of the vaccines beyond that interval, but if the second dose is administered later, “there is no need to restart the series.”

Both vaccines authorised for emergency use in the country were cleared based on trials that used two doses weeks apart, report noted.

A grace period of four days ahead of schedule would be considered valid for a second dose, but consumers should not receive the second dose earlier than that, according to the guidance.

The COVID-19 vaccines generally should be administered alone, not simultaneously with other inoculations, it said.

The need for follow-up doses at specified intervals is one layer of complication in a logistically complex national vaccination campaign.

Shortages of doses and confusion over supply have led to long waits and frustration, even as the Biden administration pledges to accelerate the delivery of vaccines following the signing of Executive Orders and other actions upon taking office Wednesday, January 20.

Meanwhile, a single-dose COVID vaccine from Johnson & Johnson is in late-stage trials now, with data expected to be analysed in the weeks ahead.