COVID-19 vaccine: 1 dose for many or 2 doses for some?

Until COVID-19 vaccine supply increases, “we are better off vaccinating twice as many people” with a first dose only, says Christopher Gill, an infectious disease specialist with vaccine development expertise.

To curb the spread of coronavirus, some experts, including Gill, advocate for a vaccination strategy that prioritizes giving as many people as possible their first dose of the COVID-19 vaccines, instead of giving second doses to half as many people.

“One thing that we know for certain is that vaccines sitting in a refrigerator protect no one.”

That stance is reflected in President Joe Biden’s plans, announced earlier this month, to order the immediate distribution of almost all available doses of the COVID-19 vaccines. The plan is in stark contrast to the strategy the Trump administration favored, which was to hold onto vaccine stock to make sure that anyone who received a first dose could receive a second one.

Biden’s announcement came amid growing frustration with the sluggish speed of the current vaccine roll-out.

“Basically, [Biden’s strategy] prioritizes getting the vaccine into more people, rather than ensuring the maximal immune response at an individual level,” Gill says.

Here, Gill, a professor of global health at Boston University, discusses how well the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines work after a first dose and why he believes that the best option at this time is to maximize the number of people who are given first-dose vaccines:

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