Today’s entry: What I haven’t heard is how long you have to wait after getting the first dose before you can take a second.
Bottom Line: Well, it depends. For the Pfizer vaccine, you need to wait 21 days prior to receiving the second dose. For the Moderna vaccine, you need to wait 28 days.
Having to wait three to four weeks, based on the vaccine type, is why we’ve accumulated more than a million second-doses waiting to be administered. According to the daily report from the Florida Department of Health’s vaccine report thru Tuesday, 1.27 million first doses had been administered compared to about 176,000 second-doses. That necessarily left 1.1 million second doses waiting to be administered as Floridian’s become eligible.
It’s worth noting all second doses are supposed to be administered within four days of the eligibility window. That means the 2nd vaccination should happen between 21-25 days for those immunized with the Pfizer vaccine and between 28-32 days for those receiving the Moderna vaccination. The Florida Department of Health has reported occasional issues locating people who’re ready for the 2nd dose within the prescribed time to receive it.
So, when immunized, you should set a calendar reminder for when you’re ready to receive the second dose. As always there remain two sides to stories and one side to facts. As Governor DeSantis pointed out, based on CDC data, Florida’s rollout has been the most efficient of any large state. The dynamic of the two-dose process naturally protract the process. The best possible near-term outcome would be for the J&J one-dose vaccine candidate to prove effective and be approved for use by the FDA.
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