The Drugs Controller General of India has given its approval to conduct a study on mixing India's two main vaccines Covaxin and Covishield, news agency ANI reported on Wednesday, 11 August.
India's Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation had on 29 July recommended clinical trials to study the mixing of these two vaccines.
News agency PTI had reported that according to official sources, a panel of the subject expert committee had recommended granting permission for this study to Christian Medical College (CMC), Vellore.
The aim of the trial is to gauge the safety and efficacy of taking doses of two different vaccines – Covaxin and Covishield.
Studies on Mixing of Vaccines
Earlier, a small study by the Indian Council for Medical Research (ICMR) revealed that mixing Covishield and Covaxin is safe and yields better results.
The study, conducted on 18 people, who were administered both Covaxin and Covishield doses in Uttar Pradesh's Siddharth Nagar shows that a combination of vaccines gave better immunogenicity than two doses of the same vaccine, reports have said.
The study is yet to be peer-reviewed.
In May 2021, health workers in UP's Siddharth Nagar had accidentally administered people with Covaxin after being given Covishield as the first shot.
Vaccine Mixing in Other Countries
While many countries have already started administering mix-and-match combinations of different COVID-19 vaccines, India is yet to approve such a move, citing a lack of clinical trial data on the vaccines being used in the country.
Research conducted in other countries have shown encouraging results.
Interim results of a study conducted by the Oxford University and published in the medical journal Lancet found that one dose of AstraZeneca vaccine followed by Pfizer produced higher T-cell response than two doses of AstraZeneca.
(With inputs from ANI and PTI)
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