According to Dr N K Arora, chairman of Covid-19 working group under National Technical Advisory Group on Immunization (NTAGI), India may soon start testing feasibility of mixing two different doses of Covid vaccines to check whether it helps in boosting immune response against virus or not.
Highlights
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While responding to the question “if a person can get a vaccine different from one, he received in first dose” he said, this is scientifically & theoretically possible. However, doing so is an evolving situation based on scientific examination.
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Several countries have also started testing the efficacy of switching COVID-19 vaccines.
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In January 2021, Britain allowed people to be given a different vaccine for second dose on rare occasions like “Vaccine Shortage”.
Background
Recently, on May 12, Oxford University-led study had released that, people who received Pfizer’s vaccine followed by a dose of AstraZeneca’s or vice versa, are likely to show mild or moderate common post-vaccination symptoms as compared to symptoms of receiving two doses of same type.
National Immunization Technical Advisory Group (NITAG)
NITAG is an advisory committee comprising of multidisciplinary groups of experts. They help in providing information to national governments so that, evidence-based decisions can be made with respect to vaccine and immunization policy. Such groups have been established by many industrialised and developed countries to guide immunization policies.