Mix of Covishield, Covaxin vaccine doses give better immunity against COVID-19, says ICMR study

A mix of Covishield and Covaxin vaccines doses can yield better results, an ICMR study has revealed. Covaxin and Covishield are the two main vaccines of India being administered to people under the COVID-19 vaccination programme. 

The ICMR study was conducted on 18 people in Uttar Pradesh's Siddhart Nagar. Those 18 people had received two doses of two separate vaccines, one Covaxin one Covishield, by mistake.

The findings of the study saw that mixed vaccines doses were not only safe but also elicited better immunogenicity. However, the study is yet to be peer-reviewed. 

“Immunisation with a 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.

While Covishield is the adenovirus vector platform-based vaccine, Covaxin is the whole virus vaccine. Covishield is the Indian version of the AstraZeneca vaccine developed in Pune-based Serum Institute in collaboration with Oxford. However, Covaxin is the first indigenous vaccine of India and has been developed by Hyderabad-based Bharat Biotech.

The study comes as the mixing of vaccines is being discussed worldwide, as studies suggest that if two vaccines will be mixed, it will give protection against future infections.

Earlier, the head of the government's COVID task force, Dr VK Paul had said that there is no problem in mixing two vaccines shots, in theory, as in such cases, the second dose of vaccine will work as a booster shot. 

The Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation in July recommended a trial of the same and it will be conducted on 300 healthy volunteers in Christian Medical College in Vellore.