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Delaying a COVID vaccine’s second dose boosts immune response

Older people who waited 11–12 weeks for their second jab had higher peak antibody levels than did those who waited only 3 weeks.
  1. Heidi Ledford
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An elderly man receives a dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine at El-Menzah sports hall in Tunisia's capital.

A man in Tunis receives a dose of the Pfizer–BioNTech vaccine for COVID-19. Credit: Jdidi Wassim/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty

Facing a limited vaccine supply, the United Kingdom embarked on a bold public-health experiment at the end of 2020: delaying second doses of COVID-19 vaccines in a bid to maximize the number of people who would be at least partially protected from hospitalization and death.

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doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-021-01299-y

References

  1. Parry, H. M. et al. Preprint at medRxiv https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.05.15.21257017 (2021).

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