Permission granted to CMC Vellore to mix vaccine doses for research study: Dr V K Paul

Niti Aayog member Dr V K Paul, during a press briefing said that permission has been granted for a research study by Christian Medical College (CMC) Vellore on mixing of the Covaxin and Covishield vaccines doses. CMC proposal was earlier approved by an independent panel affiliated with drugs regulator.

The Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) has approved a proposal from the CMC Vellore to carry out trials on the mixed use of COVID-19 vaccines, Covishield and Covaxin in people.

On July 29, the recommendation of conducting the study was given by a Subject Expert Committee of the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO). Earlier, the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), conducted a similar study and said that mixing the two COVID-19 vaccines elicited better safety and immunogenicity results.

Permission has been granted for a research study by CMC Vellore (Tamil Nadu) on mixing of vaccines doses: Dr V K Paul, Niti Aayog during a press briefing on Tuesday pic.twitter.com/QogE9UwBWz

— ANI (@ANI) August 11, 2021

ICMR experiment

The study was conducted on individuals in Uttar Pradesh by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR).

Individuals received Covishield as the first dose followed by Covaxin as the second dose at an interval of six weeks.

A total of 18 participants were in the heterologous group with two participants opting out of the experiment.

Of the 18 participants, 11 were males and seven were females with a median age of 62 years.

The ICMR study suggested immunisation with a combination of vaccines was not only safe but also elicited better immunogenicity.

The ICMR said that an adenovirus vector platform-based vaccine followed by an inactivated whole virus vaccine yielded better results.