The long gap between jabs seems to be a political not a medical decision.

Danny Finklestein has a fair and informed report on Britain’s Vaccination success in The Times today. But for me with one worrying exception.

I had my first Pfizer vaccine on Monday and all seems to be well. I was given a card with the date of the vaccination but a blank where the date of the second will eventually be filled in. When? No idea.

What is clear is that my second jab will be many weeks later than Pfizer recommend. And that Britain is the only country ignoring the manufacturers’ recommendations. Is there a chance that the whole effectiveness of the vaccination campaign will be damaged by the Government decision to delay?

I hope I’m wrong and I stand to be corrected but on the face of it the long gap between jabs seems to be a political not a medical decision. Ironically, as Libby Purves points out in the comments section of Finkelstein’s piece, Kate Bingham in charge of the vaccination programme has an appropriate background in bioscience and pharmaceuticals. Surely her contacts among the specialists will have told her what the manufacturers’s advice was. Did she choose to ignore it? Or is there something we don’t know ?