The Drug Controller General of India (DGCI) has given approval for the study on the mixing of CoveShield and Covaxin. The study will be conducted by the Christian Medical College, Vellore (Tamil Nadu). The study was recommended by the Central Drugs Standard Control Organization (CDSCO) on July 29. Its trial will be done on 300 people. Its purpose is to find out the effect of giving different vaccine doses to a person.
This study will be different from the study done by the Indian Medical Research Council (ICMR) on vaccine mixing. ICMR did a study on corona vaccine mixing in the middle of May-June in UP. The expert panel of DGCI recommended a study of mixed doses of Covishield and Covaxin.
ICMR’s study of vaccine mixing was divided into 3 groups. 40 people were included in each group. After vaccination, the safety and immunity profiles of people in all groups were compared. People taking a mixed dose of Covaxin and CoveShield had better immunity against the alpha, beta and delta variants of the corona. The study found that more antibodies were present in people who took a mixed dose of the two vaccines than those who took 2 doses of the same vaccine.
The ICMR study was the first study to combine the adenovirus vector platform vaccine and the inactivated whole virus vaccine. The result of the study is that it is safe to take a mixed dose of both the vaccines. ICMR’s Head of Epidemiology and Communicable Diseases Dr. Simran Panda said that the people involved in the study were given a second dose of a different vaccine without informing them. This was done so that people do not have fear about the second dose of the vaccine.
To check the results of vaccine mixing, volunteers were divided into 3 groups of 40-40. There were 18 people in the mixed dose group. Of these, 11 were men and 7 were women, with an average age of 62 years. However, 2 of them later dropped out of the trial. At the same time, high blood pressure was seen in one person out of 40 people included in the group with both doses of the same vaccine.
Experts are satisfied with the results of this study, but they point out the need for more in-depth and detailed research. Public health expert Dr. Sameer Bhati said, ‘Only 18 people were included in this study. Such studies should also be done at the national level. Considering the diversity of population in India, this study should also be done on people in the age group of 60 to 70 years.