India will soon test mixing different COVID-19 vaccines
India may soon begin testing a regimen that mixes two different coronavirus vaccines to assess whether the experiment boosts the immune response against the virus. In fact, work in this regard is expected to start in just a few weeks, Dr. NK Arora, the Chairman of the COVID-19 working group under the National Technical Advisory Group on Immunization, said, according to The Indian Express.
Testing to include both approved and other vaccines
This testing may be done by both using vaccines that are currently being administered in India and those that are still in development. Some eight vaccines are expected to be a part of the process, Dr. Arora said. They include the three vaccines that have already been granted approval in the country - the indigenously-developed COVAXIN, Oxford-AstraZeneca's Covishield, and the Russian vaccine Sputnik V.
Tests to be conducted in partnership with pharma companies
Such tests may be carried out in collaboration between a government body like the Indian Council of Medical Research and the pharmaceutical companies that developed and produced these vaccines. The testing will aim to study factors such as whether vaccines based on different platforms can be mixed together and which vaccines should be given in the first and the next dose.
'Current vaccines not providing protection from infection, spread'
Dr. Arora raised the concern that the vaccines currently in use only provide protection against severe disease, but not from infection or its spread. "At the moment, the vaccines used are providing protection against severe disease, but they are not providing protection from infection and transmission of the virus to the extent that we would have liked," he was quoted as saying.
Similar studies are being conducted abroad
Recently, a study conducted in Spain found out that mixing Oxford-AstraZeneca and Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccines produces a "potent immune response" against the coronavirus. Meanwhile, a similar study, called Com-COV2, is also underway in the United Kingdom. That trial involves 1,050 adult subjects aged 50 years or above who had received their first dose of a coronavirus vaccine in the past eight to 12 weeks.
How is vaccination going in India?
India is struggling to vaccinate its huge population at the desired pace - More than 21 crore doses have been administered, however, just above 3% of Indians have been fully vaccinated against the coronavirus. The government says it is taking several measures to improve the situation. Vaccines such as Johnson & Johnson's jab, Zydus Cadila's ZyCov-D, Serum Institute's Covovax are currently in the pipeline.
