DGCI nod for study on mixing Covishield, Covaxin

New Delhi, Aug 11: The Drugs Controller General Of India (DCGI) on Wednesday gave nod to a study on mixing Covishield and Covaxin, the two main vaccines used in India's COVID-19 vaccination programme.

"Permission has been granted for a research study by CMC Vellore (Tamil Nadu) on mixing of vaccines doses, said Dr V K Paul, Niti Aayog.

The mixing and matching of two COVID vaccines -Covaxin and Covishield - shows better result, revealed a study conducted by (ICMR).

"Immunisation with combination of an adenovirus vector platform-based vaccine followed by inactivated whole virus vaccine was not only safe but also elicited better immunogenicity," the study said.

"To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study which reports the effects of heterologous prime-boost vaccination with an adenovirus vectored vaccine followed by an inactivated whole virus vaccine," the researchers said.

The immunisation program against COVID-19 in India started with two vaccines--adenovirus vector platform-based vaccine Covishield and inactivated whole virion BBV152 -Covaxin--and homologous prime-boost approach was followed. However, 18 individuals, under the national program, in Siddarthnagar, Uttar Pradesh inadvertently received Covishield as the first jab and Covaxin as the second.

So, including these 18 individuals who had received one dose of Covishield and second dose of Covaxin, 40 recipients of two doses of Covishield and 40 recipients of two doses of Covaxin, were recruited in the study. The study duration was from May to June 2021.