Mixing COVID 19 Vaccines: It is a dangerous trend to take different vaccines of Coronavirus- Warns WHO

It is too early to get a perfect picture of what corona virus is and how it is cured actually, as the effectiveness and full potential of current Covid 19 vaccines are still being studied.

Amidst the different experiments taking place around the world, the one much-talked way is missing different vaccines for two shots.

Some early studies suggested that the missing two vaccines of COVID 19 can provide better protection, although WHO warns against such practices.

What does the WHO say?

The chief scientist World Health Organization (WHO) Soumya Swaminathan said that if you mix and match COVID 19 vaccines, remember that this could be a dangerous trend as there is limited research on it.

Swaminathan mentioned in a COVID 19 media briefing that he wants to warn folks there is a tendency now that people in the countries should start thinking independently as there are enough vaccines available.

It is a dangerous trend as in a data-free evidence-free zone there is limited information trial the mixing and matching of COVID 19 vaccines. However, there are still studies going on it and we need to wait.

Initial studies

In May, from the first trial that took place in Spain, the preliminary results suggest that combining two different vaccines showed a positive response. The people vaccinated with Oxford Zeneca and Pfizer BioNTech COVID 19 vaccines produced an effective immune response against the virus.

At the start of April, the Spain CombivacS registered 663 people who took trial the first dose of Oxford AstraZeneca. This vaccine consists of a harmless chimpanzee “adenovirus” that provides instructions to the cells to make a SARS- CoV- 2 protein.

Two third of these consumers were randomly picked to receive mRNA based vaccines that are made by Pfizer in New York City and BioNTech in Mainz in Germany. These have been given after at least 8 weeks of the first dose. A group of 232 members has yet not received a booster. The Carlos Health Institute in Madrid has led the study further.

The UK and many European countries have considered mixing Pfizer and Moderna vaccine shots as MRNA based.

The mix of other vaccines is AstraZeneca and Pfizer, these both vaccine response in the positive immune response.

Diverse details

As per a survey by some experts, missing different vaccines can prepare the immune system better and they can respond to a wider range of threats which includes new variants.

In the UK, talks are being done to mix and match the vaccines when it comes to the third booster dose. When someone receives two doses of vaccine of COVID 19, those will be registered in a different shot of booster dose.

As per reports by Thailand, they will use AstraZeneca Plc’s COVID 19 vaccine as the second dose for those who have received Sinovac’s shot as their first dose, in order to increase protection against the disease.

If this plan would be implemented that it will the first public announcement of a mix and match of these Chinese vaccines and a western development shot.

mRNA booster shot will be given to the medical workers who have taken two shots of Sinovac vaccines, as planned by the country.

The same is going to happen in India, there are talks about mixing Covishield and Covaxin but yet not implemented. There are even some cases of an accidental mix up of two.

For some countries the possibility of mixing two different COVID 19 vaccine shots is available.

Currently, as the delta variant is increasing rapidly amidst the country, people are in a rush to take whatever vaccine shot is available due to the shortage of vaccines.

Previous experience

There is nothing new about the mixing of two vaccines, such things have also happened previously.

The most prominent case is Ebola. The Ebola vaccine, which is developed by Johnson and Johnson is a perfect example of an effective mix-up of vaccines used today. It was done to provide long-lasting immunity. Adenovirus vector as AstraZeneca’s vaccine was used in the first shot while the second version was modified as pox virus and known as Modified vaccinia virus Ankara (MVA).

Will it give side effects?

However, there is some superiority of mixing different kinds of vaccine shots and also some scientific basis is going on. While the only vaccine authorized for the first time is mRNA vaccine.

However, it means only that the fact that the vaccine such as an adenovirus was combined does not show a proven record. This is the reason why the researchers are calling for careful studies to test different vaccine combinations. This pays special attention not only for boosting immunity but also if any ample amount of potential side effects is taking place.

Different vaccine combination to test the immunity response is analyzed by The Oxford Vaccine Group’s COM-Cov trial. The response to this vaccine was that the people who took the AstraZeneca vaccine that followed the first Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine had much reactogenicity that is side effects such as fever, chills, headache, muscle fatigue and joint pain as compared to the people who took some type of vaccines in both the doses.