India To Study Mixing of Vaccines, Covishield Single Dose

The Indian government is also running a test to check the effectiveness of a single dose of Covishield.

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(Photo Courtesy: IANS)

The Indian government plans to launch a study on mixing of vaccines, which is reportedly to be completed in the next two months.

According to a report by NDTV, the government is also running a test to check the effectiveness of a single dose of Covishield.

In addition, the Centre plans to launch a new app, linked with Co-WIN, which will allow people to flag their worries, after which a district officer will follow up on the cases.

The data recorded from the app will be examined by the Centre, which will make it easier to report adverse events after vaccination.

This development has come after at least 20 people accidentally injected two different vaccines. Following which, the Centre rules out any cause for concern.

VK Paul, NITI Aayog member and the head of India's COVID task force, has asserted that "in-depth research will be required to check whether mixing vaccines is effective".

Arora said that the new app will have three sets of administrative data, in terms of diagnostic data, vaccine data, and the overall disease data.

"Based on that, we will look at vaccine effectiveness, reinfections and trends as vaccine coverage increases,” the IE report quoted Arora as saying.

Arora also informed that a study on mixing two different vaccines will also be done to study the efficacy. The study is speculated to be completed in the next two to two-and-a-half months.

"In a few weeks, India may soon start testing feasibility of a regimen that mixes two different doses of COVID vaccines, to see if it helps boost immune response to the virus," he said.

(With inputs from NDTV)