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News release
08.02.2021
For immediate use
Minister casts doubt on potential ‘mix and match’ approach to first and second vaccine doses
Londoners should expect to receive the same type of vaccine they had in their first dose, when they come to have their second jab. These assurances were provided by the Minister for COVID-19 Vaccine Deployment, Nadhim Zahawi, in response to local London Assembly Member, Dr Onkar Sahota AM, at Thursday’s Plenary meeting of the London Assembly (4th February). Dr Sahota said that after a “wobbly start” to the rollout of the vaccine in the capital, it had been positive to see the Government “planning ahead” and working towards fixing some of the “glaring gaps” in the supply chain.
During the Plenary meeting, the Minister said, “If you’ve had Pfizer, you will get Pfizer as your second dose. If you’ve had Oxford-Astra Zeneca, you’ll get Oxford-Astra Zeneca as your second dose”.
However, his remarks came just a day before the Government launched a new study to look at the viability of mixing vaccines across the two doses.
Nadhim Zahawi joined the Plenary meeting a special guest, answering questions from London Assembly Members on the vaccine rollout in the capital.
In the lead up to the meeting, Dr Sahota had expressed concerns that a lack of supply had meant that London was lagging behind other regions of the UK in the vaccine rollout. In recent weeks, the Government has been working with the Mayor of London to fix these issues and now over a million Londoners have been given their first jab.
During the meeting, Dr Sahota also challenged the Minister on the Government’s handling of the pandemic so far and its reluctance to implement earlier lockdowns and tighter controls at airports. He warned that without public trust in the Government, there could be more widespread hesitancy to take up the vaccine.
Local London Assembly Member, Dr Onkar Sahota AM, said:
“We had a wobbly start to the vaccine rollout in the capital, so I was grateful to Nadhim Zahawi for coming before the London Assembly to respond to our concerns.
“It has been interesting to hear the Minster’s reassurances that Londoners can expect their second dose of the vaccine to match their first one, especially as the Government announced only a day later that it would be weighing up taking a different approach.
“If we have learnt anything from the pandemic so far, it is the importance of planning ahead and exploring different scenarios early on- so the situation with vaccine doses could change in the future.
“It has been positive to see that the Government and City Hall working in tandem to fix some of the glaring gaps in vaccine supply in the capital. I will continue to closely scrutinise the Government’s progress on this and its strategy to tackle vaccine hesitancy in our communities”
ENDS