Covid: can you postpone your second vaccine injection?
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As the summer is just around the corner, and most of the French have not been vaccinated against Covid yet, because not eligible yet, is it possible to move forward or later the second
injection of the vaccine without risking anything? A question we tried to answer to. Can you POSTPONE YOUR SECOND COVID VACCINE INJECTION? As the summer is just around the corner, many
French people are wondering if they can as they may go on a vacation. Yet, arrangements are possible… and for good reason: although the government has stated it was better to get both
injections in the same VACCINATION CENTER, extra doses will be delivered this summer in vaccination centers with a high tourist density, to prevent some people from postponing vaccination
indefinitely. This is the very problem: some of the French, worried about being vaccinated and leaving on a vacation have planned to come back to their vaccination place for their second
dose, or would rather WAIT FOR SEPTEMBER to get the two doses of the vaccine. A situation the Health Minister wants to avoid at all cost. OLIVIER VÉRAN even said he was waiting for a new
report from the health authorities to know if the second dose of mRNA vaccines (Pfizer and Moderna) could be postponed by 50 days after the second dose – instead of 42, as recommended by the
health bodies. The time period between the two injections the French wish they could extend or shorten to make sure they do not have to cut off their vacation, and it seems to be possible,
according to JEAN-DANIEL LELIÈVRE, immunologist and head of the infectious disease unit at the HÔPITAL HENRI-MONDOR in Val-de-Marne. He told our peers from Le Parisien that moving the second
injection date earlier or later “_does not show any risk for health_”, adding that a too big of a period could yet lose the vaccine effectiveness. He reminded that “_for the AstraZeneca
vaccine, the ideal moment to fully enjoy the effects of the second dose is set between the 9th and 12th week_”. As for the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, “_this window is set between the 3rd
and 6th week_”. What happens if one EXCEEDS THE TIME PERIOD determined by the health authorities, namely 12 WEEKS FOR ASTRAZENECA and SIX WEEKS FOR BOTH THE MRNA VACCINES? Once again,
LELIÈVRE answers: “_By week 7 for the first one, or week 13 for the other one, it can still work. But if you wait too long, the risk is to lose immediate effectiveness. And the other way
around, if the second dose is to close from the first one, you win immediate effectiveness, but in a long-term basis… we don’t know!_”, he explains. Moving your second injection earlier or
later is a decision you should take seriously. It is in your hands, now.