Delaying second COVID-19 jab ‘saved thousands of lives’

The decision in early 2021 to delay people’s second COVID-19 jabs caused huge controversy in the United Kingdom, but research has now found that this saved thousands of lives, according to a retrospective analysis from researchers at the Jameel Institute at Imperial College London. The study, authored by director of the Jameel Institute, Neil Ferguson, and epidemiologist, Anne Cori, among others, aimed to quantify the impact of delaying the delivery of second vaccine doses on the epidemic in England and found that the delay may have prevented 58,000 hospital admissions and 10,000 deaths between 8 December 2020 and 13 September 2021.