Pfizer Covid Vaccine Update - Delay to Booster Dose Explained - Dr Gill

[Music] hello um so this is just a very quick from the hip uh video um largely to respond to the new government changes about the provision of the coronavirus vaccines we've got two currently available there's the pfizer using an mrna vaccine and the new oxford vaccine using a modified virus from chimps they're both now available but it's the pfizer that has been given out initially and i've been very lucky i received my fisa vaccine a few days ago however we were supposed to have a second dose of the vaccine after two weeks in order to work as a booster and give more prolonged immunity that was the original protocol on which the 46 000 ish fizer and trial participants went through and is what pfizer had initially put forth in their protocol however the government has now said they're not going to do that and they're going to do um a slightly staggered rollout for the second booster of the fisa vaccine now people are very annoyed about this people are very angry but let's you know yes it appears that the government screwed everybody again but let's just pause for a second and have a look at the science um when it comes to vaccines the uk uses the green book and this is where we have down the protocols on how we give vaccines when are the boosters and things like that now it's very important to note that those instructions for our use of vaccines can differ from the original company instructions and one of the parts one of the things with that is that it probably doesn't matter actually and we've got a lot of evidence that using vaccines and their boosters further apart doesn't have any negative impact now let's be clear with the fisa vaccine we get the initial protection after about 12 to 14 days so that first dose is key at that point it's thought that we're getting about 90 of the total benefit from the vaccine so just a first shot is still going to be useful people so why have the government made this new change well we've got the new variant of corona vaccine which is currently you know doing the rounds in the south of the country and causing a huge spike in covert cases thankfully we haven't seen the r number go over one again but it's certainly contributed to the the data that's come out today giving a rise in the r number to point zero seven so to point seven so below one but still going up again which is not what we want as a result of this there's been a change to say we want as many people to get that first vaccine as possible and that will mean that a delay to those people who've already had their first phone now i've had my first vaccine slightly sore arm and felt a bit tired on the day of the vaccine but otherwise i'm completely fine i went and did a 45k bike ride yesterday in the freezing cold um and had no ill effects from it at all as far as i'm aware the first vaccine is very very important to get out to people the second one is useful and gives us further protection but given how things are progressing at the minute it does make sense to get the most people vaccinated at least the first stage is possible but why do we need that initial vaccine and then a booster well essentially the first vaccine says guys this is what you need to look for immune system this is the target that you need to train on the second the booster essentially is a surprise inspection for the immune system it's essentially saying hey wake up pay attention do you remember that drill we did recently now do it again but do it better and then that second boost of that surprise infection causes the system to restart and make sure that everything is good should there be a an exposure from the virus anyway now the two week period for many vaccines actually exists but that's probably better for logistics as much as it is the immune response and that's going to be a key thing when it comes to saving lives in a pandemic getting things out getting the logistics out there now there seems to be a lot of um you know consternation about the government changing the directives and i understand that completely i am disappointed as well but it does make sense to get more people vaccinated and to try and save lives that way we do have a relatively good understanding of how the immune system works with regard to vaccines generally and yes there will be people who say that the fisa vaccine is new and it was only tested with a two week gap in that 46 000 patient trial but what we need to think is what's the vaccine actually doing yes we have an mrna vaccine but all that is it's just a new way of taking an antigen taking a bit of a protein in this case taking the spike protein and showing it to the body it's a way of getting it into the system from there everything is normal the system the immune system will respond in its usual way to this antigen by comparison you know you could perhaps look at it with target practice you can go online you can buy your you know your cans for target range that's a classic vaccine or you can use a 3d printer at home and print your own targets that's the mrna vaccine what's changed is what you're putting in the shooting gallery you know you're changing what your your immune system is going to respond to what isn't changing is the shooting gallery it's not changing the gun and it's not changing the bullets all the crucial things for how the immune system works you know the mra the mrna vaccine is just a new way of getting the target into you now let me be very clear changing the deployment is just you know stupid the government have screwed up again it's burned good will it makes people lose confidence in their you know attempting to handling things and also the vaccine rollout but biologically speaking it's unlikely there's going to be any negative effect on protection people are getting at 12 weeks as i say the studies have suggested after the first fisa vaccine dose that you get about 90 percent of the benefit we know that vaccines save lives we've got no reason to think that the corona vaccine is going to do anything more than you know save the day here we need to get the vaccine out to more people and as harsh as it feels for those people expecting um you know the second dose it is the right thing to do at the minute now don't get me wrong i think that you know ambulance workers people in a e people working in icu they should be getting the utmost protection get both um shots out there and let them get on and save lives but unfortunately the government is doing its own thing here vaccines will stop this pandemic we have the technology the current change is annoying but medically speaking it shouldn't have much difference in the end even if you've had your vaccine that first dose please continue to wear the masks wearing the mask is crucially important particularly as we've said you know you've got to wait 12 to 14 days for the vaccine to have an effect and even so we're saying a 90 effective doesn't get us out of the woods yet in this high level of circulation wear the masks keep washing your hands keep socially distanced we will get through this hopefully that's trying to put in perspective what's going on with the vaccine changes and why it's annoying but isn't the end of the world now all of this has been said with my you know masters of immunology analogy hat on which is a few years old now i must confess so you know please engage down in the comments here you know if people have got further you know qualifications in you know virology in the production of vaccines and stuff we want to hear from you please shout out so that we can help people dispel some of the utter rubbish that is out there and yeah hopefully that's helped take care and uh i'll see you soon