US health recommends taking second dose on time to combat covid-19

WASHINGTON, Jan 27 (KUNA) -- The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Wednesday that based on recommendations people should get their second dose as close to the recommended interval as possible.
"The CDC still recommends that people get their second dose as close to the recommended interval as possible.
That would be three weeks for the Pfizer vaccine and four weeks for the Moderna vaccine," US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said at the White House Covid-19 Response Team's first press briefing.
"However, we also know that life can get in the way, and that some of those doses may be missed in the best time window. And in those circumstances, the second dose may be given up to six weeks, or 42 days, after the first." "Second, the CDC has reiterated that the Covid-19 vaccines are not interchangeable.
However, it's also true that in extremely rare circumstances, people may not simply remember, or have documentation of, which first dose they received. In these extremely rare situations, we have said that any available mRNA Covid-19 vaccine may be administered as the second dose," "I want to take a moment here to emphasize that the Covid-19 vaccines are safe and they work. And this is backed up with data." "Let me be clear, these are rare, treatable outcomes and the Covid-19 vaccines are safe. It's also important to put this into context. The risk with getting sick with Covid-19 are much higher than the risk of allergy or anaphylaxis from the vaccine." "Get vaccinated when it's your turn," Walensky added.
On another front, Andy Slavitt, senior adviser to the White House Covid-19 Response Team, said "I want to level with the public that we're facing two constraining factors.
The first is getting enough supply quickly enough, and the second is the ability to administer the vaccines quickly once they're produced and sent out to the sites," Slavitt said.
"We are taking action to increase supply and increase capacity, but even so, it will be months before everyone who wants a vaccine will be able to get one," Slavitt added.
"Any stockpile that may have existed previously no longer exists. Our practice is to maintain a rolling inventory of two to three days of supply that we can use to supplement any shortfalls in production and to ensure that we are making deliveries as committed", Slavitt said. (end) asj.mb