Following advice from the Conseil supérieur des maladies infectious (CSMI), the infectious diseases high council, issued on 16 February, Luxembourg’s vaccine programme will now include an interval of between 8 and 12 weeks when administering the two doses of the AstraZeneca covid-19 vaccine. Previously the health authority had been using an interval of four weeks. The decision was announced on Wednesday lunchtime.

The CSMI says its latest data indicates that lengthening the interval between the two doses appears to have a favourable effect on the efficacy of the vaccine against symptomatic forms of the disease. Administration of the 2nd dose beyond the 12th week is not recommended, the health ministry says.

On 3 February, new data supported by Oxford University researchers seemed to suggest that the UK’s approach of leaving an interval of three months between doses “may have a substantial impact on transmission.” However, at the end of last week, the World Health Organization said its experts were recommending an 8 to 12-week interval. AstraZeneca has said that “increasing the interval between doses could allow many more people to be vaccinated in the first instance.”