File picture. Dr Anike Baptiste, a specialist doctor at the Steve Biko Academic Hospital, gets her injection of the Johnson & Johnson Covid-19 vaccine. Picture: Jacques Nelles
As the vaccination process ponderously gathers momentum – and people wonder how long it will take to get around to them – there is a little bit of hopeful news.
It is clear that there are going to be delays and difficulties in getting supplies of vaccines, so the decision to stretch the delay between the required two doses of the Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine to three months will buy the country time to catch up.
Three months is, according to a study done in the UK, the optimal time between doses to allow for the development of antibodies against Covid-19, which will increase the effectiveness of the vaccine.
Epidemiologist Jo Barnes says from an administrative or epidemiological standpoint, delaying the Pfizer dose interval by three months, as opposed to two weeks, will give government time to sort out logistical and administrative glitches in the roll-out programme.
Virologist Professor Shabir Ahmed Madhi agrees and adds that the delay will at least allow individuals to
get some protection.
The problem, though, remains: we need a herculean effort to meet the government’s target of 40 million people inoculated by the first quarter of next year.
On the bright side, though, every day it does get better and better …
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