I have had my parents vaccinated. They both received the Pfizer jab. The only concern I have is that their second jab is scheduled for March, in line with this government\u2019s \u2018expert\u2019 appraisal of the situation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Much was made of the approval process of the vaccine in the first place – all the stuff about examining the data properly and not cutting any corners. The data they have from Pfizer and BioNTech very specifically relate to having a jab on Day One, then receiving a booster jab on Day Twenty One. Nothing else, just that. <\/strong>There are no data which directly looked at giving the booster after three months instead of three weeks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But our<\/strong> \u2018experts\u2019 have somehow decided that it is<\/strong> OK to have the second jab on Day Ninety (or thereabouts). This is primarily driven by vaccine availability, though we won\u2019t admit to that and it is therefore officially explained away as \u2018trying to get as many people as possible protected because the jab is almost completely effective after one dose anyway\u2019. Then there\u2019s a bit of standard government obfuscation thrown just in case it still made any sense even then.<\/p>\n\n\n\n However, an Israeli study – and Israel rolled out the vaccine much more effectively than we did, even if we<\/strong> approved it before the French or the Germans (a major detail to far too many in this country) – suggests that the first dose might only be 33% effective instead of the 90% figure we<\/strong> somehow came up with back in December<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n