Submitted on Saturday 23rd January 2021
Rejected on Monday 25th January 2021
Current status: Rejected
Rejection code: irrelevant (see below for details)
Reduce the gap between COVID-19 vaccinations to 4-6 weeks from 12 weeks.
The current position of NHS England is to enforce a position of no second doses of COVID-19 vaccine until 12 weeks have passed from the first dose. There is no room for clinical discretion. The existing evidence supports a much shorter interval to give good efficacy at person level.
The argument to support the current stance is based on balance of population benefit versus risk in covering more people with a first dose. Evidence is lacking to support either decision at a population level. Emerging evidence suggests protection is less than expected in the intervening period between doses if the second dose is delayed. This might result in increased risk even at population level compared to shortening the interval. Providing no choice regarding second dose timing is unethical
You can't sign this petition because it was rejected. But you can still comment on it here at Repetition.me!
The Government e-Petitions Team gave the following reason:
We can only accept petitions about things the Government or House of Commons are directly responsible for, and decisions about approval of vaccines and the administration of these is a matter for various public health agencies, not the Government or House of Commons.
We have published the following petition calling for a related action, which you might like to sign:
Ban vaccines being administered in a manner not fully tested in clinical trials: petition.parliament.uk/petitions/566116
The delays to receiving the second dose of a Covid-19 vaccine has been implemented by the NHS following advice from the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI), which advises UK health departments on immunisation, which has also been supported by the UK's four Chief Medical Officers. Their new advice and the changes to the Covid-19 vaccination programme are consistent with the temporary authorisations granted for these vaccines by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency.
The JCVI, Chief Medical Officers, MHRA and NHS England are all independent and operationally independent of the UK Government, so we cannot accept petitions calling for actions that these bodies are responsible for.
You can read the JCVI's advice on optimising the COVID-19 vaccination programme for maximum short-term impact here: www.gov.uk/government/publications/prioritising-the-first-covid-19-vaccine-dose-jcvi-statement/optimising-the-covid-19-vaccination-programme-for-maximum-short-term-impact
You can read the statement from the UK Chief Medical Officers on the prioritisation of first doses of COVID-19 vaccines here: www.gov.uk/government/news/statement-from-the-uk-chief-medical-officers-on-the-prioritisation-of-first-doses-of-covid-19-vaccines
You can read the MHRA's conditions of Authorisation for Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine here: www.gov.uk/government/publications/regulatory-approval-of-pfizer-biontech-vaccine-for-covid-19/conditions-of-authorisation-for-pfizerbiontech-covid-19-vaccine
You can read the MHRA's conditions of Authorisation for COVID-19 Vaccine AstraZeneca here: www.gov.uk/government/publications/regulatory-approval-of-covid-19-vaccine-astrazeneca/conditions-of-authorisation-for-covid-19-vaccine-astrazeneca
We have marked your petition as confidential because we cannot publish petitions that contain false or unproven statements, including unsubstantiated claims that the current approach will endanger more lives.
3.145.206.169 Thu, 25 Apr 2024 09:47:57 +0100
