NEW DELHI: The results of the trials to test the feasibility of mixing two Covid-19 vaccines — Covishield and Covaxin — are likely to come out by the end of this month. Conducted by Christian Medical College (CMC), Vellore, the study will also test the effectiveness of heterologous vaccine doses against new Covid variants.
India’s top virologist Dr. Gagandeep Kang, professor at the CMC, said the trial’s objective was to study the safety and immunogenicity (antibodies produced and its effectiveness) of heterologous vaccines against the same two-dose vaccine.
She said the “first antibody results are likely to come by February-end”. In the study, she said a participant will first receive Covaxin followed by Covishield or vice versa. India is using the two vaccines in its vaccination programme.
Initially, it was challenging to recruit people for the study, and other institutes were approached. Now the investigation is being carried out on 400 volunteers. The Drug Controller General of India had approved the trial in July last year. India has been giving the same vaccine as the third dose of booster or precaution dose. At the moment, no mix and match of vaccines have been allowed as there has not been enough data on the effectiveness of a different vaccine.