BEIRUT: The Health Ministry has decided to delay the second dose of the Pfizer coronavirus vaccine from three weeks to six weeks apart, to increase the number of people gaining protection from receiving a first dose, the caretaker health minister said Monday night.

The scientific committee at the Health Ministry took a decision to delay the administration of the second dose of the Pfizer vaccine until after six weeks from the first dose, and this matter has been adopted in more than one country in the world with recommendations from scientific references, because it allows expanding the area of beneficiaries of the first dose," Hamad Hasan said in an interview with television station OTV.

Lebanon is now two months into its national campaign that prioritized vaccines for health care workers and the elderly, who have been mainly inoculated with the jab developed by Pfizer-BioNTech, of which Lebanon has ordered nearly 3 million doses.

Over 161,778 people aged over 75 have been vaccinated, according to the governments open data e-platform Impact, and according to Hasan the benefit of such inoculations has already been indicated.

Hasan cited a decline in the mortality rate among the elderly infected with coronavirus, and a lower number of that same group admitted to intensive care units of hospitals.

The decision by the Health Ministry to delay administering the second Pfizer dose follows similar extensions in countries such as the UK and Canada, who decided to allow a 12-week gap between shots in order to reach more a bigger swath of the population with one dose.

In addition, since the global rollout of vaccines, scientists are now able to work with data from real-world conditions, and assess immunity levels of those vaccinated.

One such discovery has been the high level of immunity initially gained after receiving the first vaccine dose. Americas Centers for Disease Control and Prevention published a report at the end of March which cited data showing that after a single dose of the Pfizer vaccine, the risk of infection of COVID-19 dropped by 80 percent, two or more weeks after inoculation.

The CDC has also advised that the Pfizer can be administered a maximum of six weeks after the first dose, if a delay in vaccination is unavoidable.

In the interview, Hasan also said that 20 percent of the population has acquired immunity against the virus as a result of infection or vaccination.

So far 102,621 people have received the required two doses of the vaccine, less than 2 percent of the population, according to the Impact platform. The Health Ministry has said previously it aims to vaccinate at least 80 percent of the country by the end of the year to achieve the desired herd immunity level.

Looking forward, Hasan said Lebanon can expect an abundance of vaccinations in the months of June and July. A further 750,000 doses of Pfizer will be made available to the private sector in June, while delayed AstraZeneca jabs are expected to arrive in the coming months.

After reports of vulnerable communities being left out of the governments vaccination campaign, including those of migrant workers and refugees, Hasan said: 600,000 vaccines have been provided to displaced Syrians, and there is also a discussion with the Lebanese-Palestinian Dialogue Committee on establishing a special platform for Palestinian refugees.

He once again stressed the need for all of society to be vaccinated because the virus does not distinguish between identity and nationality.

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