Medical workers in Jalisco won’t get their second shot of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine before the expiration of the recommended interval between inoculations, which is 21 to 28 days.
Delays in shipments of vaccines from the company’s plant in Belgium mean that the second dose that 24,319 health staff were due to receive this week will be delayed, probably for another three weeks.
Jalisco Health Secretary Fernando Petersen explained that the World Health Organization (WHO) accepts that some countries face “exceptional” epidemiological circumstances, in which case the interval between doses may extend up to 42 days.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) also updated its guidance on January 22: “The second dose should be administered as close to the recommended interval as possible,” the CDC said. “However, if it is not feasible to adhere to the recommended interval, the second dose of Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna Covid-19 vaccines may be scheduled for administration up to six weeks (42 days) after the first dose.”
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