Amid a Shortage, Where Do Indian Experts Stand on Mixing Vaccines

UK trials show that mixing vaccines is safe although it can cause more severe, albeit temporary, side effects.

The Big Story Podcast on mixing and matching of COVID vaccines, booster doses, vaccine shortages and more. Image used for representation only.

(Photo: The Quint)

COVID-19 is here to stay for longer than we could have imagined, while vaccine stocks in the world are nowhere near enough to keep populations across the globe safe from future surges.

Keeping in mind the shortage of vaccine supply, countries have started to consider mixing and matching of different COVID vaccines and the data so far seems promising, according to experts.

A recent study led by researchers at Oxford University found that mixing the Oxford-AstraZeneca and Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines is safe, although it could cause more severe, albeit temporary, side effects.

Similar studies were conducted in Spain, which also showed encouraging results. Countries like Canada, the UK, Bahrain and the UAE have also started allowing the mixing and matching of vaccines to address the shortage of supply.

However, researchers and experts in India are still on the fence about the issue, citing a lack of clinical data for the vaccines approved in India – which are Oxford Astrazeneca also known as Covishield, Covaxin, and Sputnik V.

In today’s episode, we will take a closer look at what Indian experts have to say on mixing and matching of COVID vaccines, whether it is safe, and whether given the severe shortage of vaccines that India is facing, should we consider it?

To help us answer these questions, for today’s episode, we spoke with Professor Gagandeep Kang, a renowned virologist with CMC Vellore, and Dr Rakesh Mishra, the former Director of Council of Scientific and Industrial Research and an Advisor to CEBM.