|
 Dr. Sara Oliver, an official at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention (CDC), said the agency was considering making the
recommendation for Moderna and Pfizer/BioNTech shots during a
meeting of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, a panel
of outside advisers to the CDC.
In the United States, the recommended interval between the first two
shots of Pfizer's vaccine is three weeks and for Moderna's, four.
In her presentation, Dr. Oliver said an extended interval appears to
reduce the risk of already rare cases of myocarditis, and that the
lowest rates of heart inflammation following vaccination occur if
the vaccines are given eight weeks apart.
Myocarditis is a rare side effect seen with mRNA vaccines - the
technology behind both the Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna shots. It
appears to be more common among young men.
Oliver also said the extended interval appears to increase vaccine
efficacy.
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 If the agency does change the recommended
interval, there may be some populations for
which the shorter gap is still preferred, Oliver
said, particularly groups where the benefits of
earlier protection against COVID-19 outweigh the
risk of myocarditis.
The move would come late in the U.S. vaccination
campaign, as more than 212 million people in the
country are fully vaccinated, according to
government data.
But there are still around 33 million
unvaccinated people in the United States between
ages of 12 and 39, Oliver said, the age range
that puts them at higher risk of myocarditis
after the shots.
Canadian health officials had presented data to
the group earlier in the day about why they had
settled on a recommended eight-week interval
between shots of the two vaccines.
(Reporting by Michael Erman; Editing by Bill
Berkrot)
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