Chennai, India (CU)_ The preliminary results of a research which studied the effects of mixing doses of two leading Covid-19 vaccines and how effective the mix works against the virus showed an increased side effects such as fatigue and headaches in patients. As stated in the The Lancet medical journal, researchers of the University of Oxford said that people who received a first shot of AstraZeneca Plc’s vaccine followed by a dose of Pfizer Inc.’s vaccine four weeks later experienced more short-term side effects, the majority of which were not serious. That was also valid when the order of the jabs were reversed.
As many low- and middle-income countries struggle to find out how to deal with vaccine shortages, researchers and public health authorities are looking at tactics like combining two separate shots. It would be beneficial for governments to organize their vaccine stocks if they could be certain that mismatched shots are both secure and reliable. It would also provide more understanding about a mixture that is already tried in certain countries. For example, in France, people who received a first shot of the Astra vaccine before the government limited it to older patients are now being given the Pfizer and BioNTech SE vaccine for the second shot.
Matthew Snape, a pediatrics and vaccinology professor from Oxford who is the head of the research, said, “It’s a really intriguing finding and not something that we were necessarily expecting. Whether or not this will relate to an improved immune response, we don’t know yet; we’ll be finding out those results in a few weeks’ time.” He said that the study found no safety concerns and that the stronger side effects faded away a few days later. According to Snape, the findings indicate that mixed dose schedules can result in an increase in work absences the next day after the immunization. He said, “You wouldn’t want to immunize a ward full of nurses with a mixed schedule on the same day”.
According to the study, about 10% of participants who received combined doses reported extreme fatigue, compared to about 3% of those who received a single form of vaccine. The participants of the research are all above the age of 50. According to Snape, the reactions may be even more powerful in younger patients. The researchers are also experimenting with a 12-week dosing period between vaccinations, and they plan to extend the study to include vaccines from Moderna Inc. and Novavax Inc. While not all vaccines can be combined, researchers agree it is possible for those that share a common target, for example, the spike protein of the virus. The mixed schedule is called the heterologous boost.
During this pandemic, the Commonwealth ensured equivalent distribution of vaccines to its member countries and also rendered special aid to India’s pandemic battle. The Commonwealth along with its relevant bodies is also promoting international cooperation to prepare for future pandemics and to facilitate vaccine development and distribution.
