Will mixing of Covaxin and Covishield doses result in a successful Covid-19 vaccine, Expert panel gives nod for trial

Till date Covaxin and Covishield have been successful administered to bulk of the population in India. While, both the vaccines have two doses, they cannot be interchanged with each other. This basically means a person has to take two doses of the same vaccine. However, medical fraternity across the globe has been interested in mixing two doses of different vaccine and checking the result.

The Christian Medical College (CMC) in Vellore had requested Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO) to conduct a clinical trial of mixing Covaxin and Covishied, and the CDSCO gave a green light.

According to sources, the expert panel of CDSCO has given a permission to Christian Medical College to conduct the trial on 300 volunteers. The volunteers will be administered with a mixed dose of vaccine by mixing Covaxin and Covishield.

This trial of mixing vaccine by CMC is expected to bring new facts about the research of Covid vaccine in India. There have various examples of mixing vaccines across the world. Astrazeneca and Pfizer vaccines have been mixed on a trial basis. Similarly, Sputnik V was mixed with Astrazeneca vaccine on a trial basis. In both the above mentioned trials no adverse incidents were reported.

In the last few months several incidents across India have come forward where patients were accidentally injected with two doses of different covid vaccine (Covaxin along with Covishield). However, no major casualty was reported after such cases. Hence, It is assumed that there will not be any causality if both Covaxin and Covishield are mixed and administered.

For those who are unaware, Covaxin and Covishield have been manufactured in different processes. Covaxin is developed from dead virus which instructs the immune system to mount a defensive reaction against an infection. On the other end, Covishield is developed from weakened version of common cold virus.