

I think four to five months is fine.”Ī medical student loads a syringe with the Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine in Los Angeles, CA. “But Canada has changed their window to four months. “Obviously I don’t mean waiting five years or something,” he’s quick to add. When the public health officials were trying to figure out what the recommended window should be, they had to reach a compromise between the body producing a robust immunological response and getting people vaccinated as quickly as possible, Rutherford explains. “The three to a four-week window is the minimum amount of time,” he says. Rutherford says the actual window is longer than you think.

What if you missed your window for the second Covid shot? If you got Pfizer, you should get Pfizer again. If you got Moderna for the first shot, that’s what you should get for the second shot. “Unless we’re talking about Johnson and Johnson, you should get the second one and you should get the same you got before,” he tells Inverse. Rutherford’s answer, in turn, is simple and direct: get the second one. A study published in Science in April found that people who hadn’t previously had Covid-19 and only got one shot of Pfizer didn’t produce detectable levels of antibodies against certain variants. With new variants popping up at a rapid clip, it’s more important than ever to get that second shot. Can you mix and match Covid-19 vaccines?.What to do if you forget your vaccination card.What to do if you missed your window for the second dose.What to do if you only got one Moderna or Pfizer Covid-19 shot.He offers guidance on four emerging scenarios now that it’s easier than ever to get a Covid-19 vaccine in the United States. George Rutherford, Director of the Prevention and Public Health Group and professor of epidemiology and biostatistics at the University of California San Francisco, explains to Inverse why that is.
#Moderna 2nd dose timing full#
(But you do need to go back if you want the full 94 to 95 percent protection the mRNA vaccines offer.) Whatever the reason, all is not lost if you missed your second dose appointment. Maybe you had an emergency the day you were supposed to go back.

Maybe you were freaked out by stories of second-shot side effects. If you got one of the mRNA vaccines, Pfizer, or Moderna, you also agreed to come back in three to four weeks for the second dose. You made an appointment, waited in line, rolled up your sleeve, and got the shot. At last, the moment you had been waiting for arrived: You were eligible to get the Covid-19 vaccine.
