PEOPLE vaccinated against Covid yesterday will start to have protection by next week, experts say.
The NHS started the roll-out yesterday with 50 English hospitals offering the weapon to over 80s and healthcare workers.
Chris Hingston, an intensive care unit doctor, is given the Pfizer/BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine in Cardiff, Wales, on Tuesday
The NHS started the roll-out of the Pfizer vaccine yesterday
Two doses are needed per person in order for the jab to work the most effectively. They are given 21 days apart.
People given the vaccine become fully immune to the coronavirus seven days after the second dose.
The trial of 43,000 volunteers conducted by Pfizer found the jab was “95 per cent effective beginning 28 days after the first dose”.
But those who received the vaccine yesterday can may experience significant protection against the virus from the end of next week.
An analysis of the vaccine released on Tuesday by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) suggests that a single dose of the Pfizer vaccine readies them to repel the virus.
The immune system is triggered into action by around the 12th day, graphs show.
It said the data showed after the first dose, there was no difference between how many people got Covid-19 between people given the coronavirus jab, and people given a dummy jab in trials.
But after a couple of weeks, the picture changes and there are more cases in the placebo group, meaning the vaccine had started to work to some degree.
Generally before the second dose, the vaccine was 82 per cent effective, the FDA reported. But it there is no evidence this lasts for very long.
The vaccine efficacy goes up significantly to 95 per cent seven days after the second dose, and participants were protected for two months at least.
Dr Akiko Iwasaki, an immunobiologist with the Yale University School of Medicine, pointed out the “striking finding” on Twitter today.
But she, as other experts have, stressed the importance of the second dose to ensure a person has the full protection against Covid-19.
The immune system is triggered into action around 12 days after the first dose, graphs from an FDA analysis show. The blue line is people vaccinated against the virus, and the red line is people given a dummy jab. It shows both groups had similar numbers of Covid cases until around two weeks after inoculation
Margaret Keenan, 90, was given the jab in Coventry at 6.31am on Tuesday, marking the start of a phased NHS rollout of the vaccine to older people, health staff and care home workers.
Dr Greg Poland, director of the Mayo Clinic’s Vaccine Research Group in Rochester, Minnesota, told NBC news: “The concern is that after a single dose, people would think ‘I’m home free.’ That would be the wrong message.”
Other experts have previously said there is partial protection 12 days after the first dose, which would mean those jabbed yesterday have started to build immunity before Christmas.
Professor Sir Munir Pirmohamed, chair of the Commission on Human Medicines (CHM) working group on Covid-19 vaccines, told a Downing Street briefing on December 2: “The vaccine requires two doses 21 days apart and from the data that has been presented to us, people will be immune seven days after the second dose.
“Partial immunity does occur after the first dose and we can see some protection occurring after day 12 after the first dose, but best immunity is seven days after the second dose.”
Sir Patrick Vallance said yesterday it can take a month or longer before a person is granted full immunity against the coronavirus.
For that reason, face masks could still be needed late into next year as it will take a few months for a large proportion of the population to be fully protected.
The Government’s chief scientific adviser told Sky News: “It takes time after the vaccine for the immune system to kick in.
“It’s going to take quite a long time to make sure everybody in the at-risk groups and all of the groups that are difficult to reach get vaccinated as appropriate.”
The Health Secretary Matt Hancock also said Britons must work to protect the vulnerable, even though they have been prioritised to receive the Pfizer jab.
He told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “The second dose is in three weeks’ time, and then it takes a week to get full immunity, so, even for those who were the first to be vaccinated, we’ve still got a month until they are protected.
“And then we’ve got to ensure that people who are vulnerable to this disease are protected and then we can lift the restrictions and that will take months, so we’ve got to stick at it.”
Mr Hancock said he hopes “several million” people will have been vaccinated by Christmas.
BioNTech’s Sean Marett said the UK was likely to receive at least five million doses of vaccine by the end of year.
However, Mr Hancock warned people must stick to the rules for now, saying: “I have great hopes for summer 2021 and I hope we can lift the restrictions from the spring.”
Meanwhile, NHS England’s medical director, Professor Stephen Powis, said Tuesday’s vaccinations are a “turning point in this pandemic”.
“This is the way out of it, the beginning of the end,” he said.
“It’s not going to happen tomorrow, it’s not going to happen next week or next month.
“We still need to socially distance, we need to follow all those restrictions in place.
“But, in 2021, vaccination programmes will mean we can get back to normality.”
A British grandmother was the first person in the world to receive Pfizer’s Covid-19 jab outside a clinical trial.
Margaret Keenan, 90, was given the jab in Coventry at 6.31am on Tuesday, marking the start of a phased NHS rollout of the vaccine to older people, health staff and care home workers.
After he jab, she declared: “If I can have it at 90, then you can have it too.”
Lyn Wheeler, 81, who was given the Pfizer jab in front of Boris Johnson at Guy’s in London, called for everyone to do their duty so normal life can resume.
She said: “It’s all for Britain. I’m going for it because I feel there’s no other way forward. We can’t keep sitting in our houses.”
