The cases of corona in the country are once again seeing a spurt. In the last 24 hours, more than 43 thousand new Covid cases were reported. Amidst rising Covid
cases the expert panel of the Central Drug Standard Control Organization (CDSCO) has recommended to approve the trial of mixing the doses of Covaxin and Covishield, according to sources.
Christian Medical College (CMC) Vellore has applied for approval from the Subject Expert Committee (SEC) for the interchangeability study protocol of both the vaccines. The SEC has also recommended approval for the trial of Bharat Biotech’s Interchangeability Study Protocol of Covaxin and Adenovirus Intranasal Vaccine (BBV154). However, the committee has directed Bharat Biotech to come up with a revised protocol by removing the word ‘interchangeability’ from its study title.
This study will help to know whether a person can be given two different doses of the vaccine. That is, whether both doses of vaccine can be completed by giving the first dose of Covashield and the second dose of Covaxin.
The expert team has also sought safety data from Biologicals-E with regard to giving the vaccine to the age group of 5 to 17 years. The team also discussed immunogenicity data after a single dose. Biologicals-E had applied for Phase 2 and 3 clinical trials. The company has been asked to submit safety and immunogenicity data of trials conducted on adults to CDSCO.
Another official source said US pharmaceutical company Johnson & Johnson (J&J) was also to discuss allowing phase-3 clinical trials of a single-dose vaccine, but the firm withdrew its proposal. In the third phase, the company applied for clinical trials of its vaccine on 600 people in two age groups. These include people aged 18 to 59 years and above 60 years.
Significantly, the mixture of corona virus vaccine is being discussed all over the world. It is being said that more antibodies are developed by taking different vaccine doses. According to reports, after the introduction of two different vaccines by German Chancellor Angela Merkel, there was talk of mixing the Kovid vaccine globally. According to the information, Merkel took the first dose of the vaccine of AstraZeneca while she got the Moderna vaccine in the second dose.