India May Allow Mixing Sputnik V & Covishield Doses as Evidence Suggests Its 'Safe'

India is considering to give an approval for mixing of Russia’s Sputnik V and Oxford–AstraZeneca’s Covishield, which is being manufactured by Pune-based SII, for Covid-19 vaccination. Once allowed, the people will be free to choose the first dose of one vaccine and the second dose of another.

According to a report published in Mint, the Covid-19 working group of the National Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (NTAGI) is mulling to give permission of mixing vaccines, but with a restriction that both doses will have to be from same platforms.

The report further said that the panel is discussing based on “growing evidence” that mix and match of vaccines is “not only safe but also produces a strong immune response”. The panel believes that it will also resolve the issue of vaccine supply shortage in the country.

On July 29, the Subject Expert Committee (SEC) of the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO) had met to discuss some crucial issues regarding the updation of the existing Covid-19 protocol and had recommended mixing vaccine doses.

The SEC was in favour of mixing and matching Covishield and Covaxin vaccine doses, sources had told CNN-News18, adding that it has recommended that permission be granted to Christian Medical College (CMC), Vellore, for conducting a clinical trial on mixing of Covaxin and Covishield.

With growing murmurs around the supposed increased efficiency of mixing two different vaccines as the coronavirus continues to mutate and evolve, the expert panel had discussed in detail the interchangeability protocol of Covaxin and Covishield. The application was moved by CMC Vellore.

A section of experts advocated that using vaccines based on two different platforms could trigger a better immune response in a beneficiary.

The mix-and-match strategy is known as a heterologous prime and boost and has been used in the past against diseases such as Ebola and AIDS.

Traditionally, doses of the same vaccine are given multiple times as homologous boosts. New findings indicate that prime-boost can be done with different vaccines containing the same antigens. In many cases, such heterologous prime-boost can be more immunogenic than homologous prime-boost.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel had received a Moderna coronavirus vaccine as her second jab, after getting the first dose of AstraZeneca vaccine, bringing the spotlight once again on the mix-and-match of Covid-19 shots.

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