U.K. Health Service Extends Window For Second Dose of Pfizer COVID-19 Vaccine

The U.K. National Health Service has extended the scheduling of the second dose of the COVID-19 vaccine made by Pfizer and BioNTech.

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In a letter to hospitals, the NHS suggested that those who are scheduled to receive their second dose of the Pfizer (PFE) vaccine after January 4 should be postponed for three to 12 weeks, with most recipients receiving their second dose closer to the 12-week mark.

Only a small percentage of patients have been tested using this sort of time gap between vaccines and this move would bring the window closer to the time frame for the recently approved AstraZeneca vaccine.

Pfizer acknowledges that individual health authorities have the discretion to devise alternative dosing schedules. However, it stated that the safety and efficacy of the vaccine has not been tested at the interval recommended by the NHS. Pfizer urged health authorities to conduct stringent surveillance on any alternative schedules in order to ensure maximum protection for recipients of the vaccines.

“Pfizer and BioNTech’s Phase 3 study for the COVID-19 vaccine was designed to evaluate the vaccine’s safety and efficacy following a 2-dose schedule, separated by 21 days. The safety and efficacy of the vaccine has not been evaluated on different dosing schedules as the majority of trial participants received the second dose within the window specified in the study design,” said Pfizer.

The NHS believes that its amended schedule will protect the ultimate number of at-risk people in the shortest period of time and will have the greatest influence on the mortality rate.

RBC Capital analyst Randall Stanicky reiterated his Hold rating on PFE three days ago and set his price target at $42. This implies upside potential of around 15%.

Stanicky remarked in a commentary note that Pfizer’s accomplishment to get the vaccine to market in record time while refusing federal money is “nothing short of remarkable.” However, he believes that Pfizer’s vaccine opportunity has been fully built into its share price and is likely to be range-bound in the near-term.

Overall, consensus among analysts is a Moderate Buy based on 3 Buys and 9 Holds. The average price target of $41.83 suggests upside potential of around 15% over the next 12 months.