India may begin testing effects of Covid-19 vaccine doses mix-up in few weeks: Govt panel head

India may soon commence with testing a vaccination routine which consists of two doses from distinct Covid-19 vaccines, with the objective to review if the vaccine-mix up will enhance the immune reaction to the virus, according to reports of news agency ANI, quoted by  Dr NK Arora, chairman, Covid-19 working group under National Technical Advisory Group on Immunization (NTAGI).

ANI cited Arora, “India may soon start in a few weeks testing feasibility of a regimen that mixes two different doses of Covid vaccines to see if it helps boost immune response to virus.”

Dr Rajib Dasgupta, chairperson of the Centre of Social Medicine and Community Health at Jawaharlal Nehru University revealed to ANI on May 28 the details about the study conducted with mix-up of two different vaccine doses. He iterated the reports are only available of the initial results, however none are final ones.

Dasgupta said, “The combination of vaccines is still under investigation and research. The potential mixing of what we call a homologous boost… homologous combination boost are vaccines that have similar mechanisms or similar platforms. Only one or two initial results are available from the trials across the world but those are interim results and not final results.”

Earlier in April 2021, the UK has conducted a study pertaining to the possible effects of mixing the two doses with different Covid-19 vaccines, under the aegis of Oxford Vaccine Group’s Com-Cov vaccine trial, which intends to have detailed research on combining vaccines.

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