Tests on combined vaccines could begin in a couple of weeks

India could quickly start testing the feasibility of a routine that mixes two completely different Covid-19 vaccines to see if it helps increase immune response to the virus.
The testing could also be carried out each utilizing vaccines which can be at present accessible within the nation, and people which can be within the pipeline, The Indian Express has learnt.
Work is predicted to start “in a few weeks”, in line with Dr N Ok Arora, chairman of the Covid-19 working group beneath the National Technical Advisory Group on Immunization (NTAGI).
Approximately eight vaccines could also be combined and matched as a part of the method, Dr Arora mentioned. These embrace the three vaccines which can be at present accredited to be used within the nation, Serum Institute of India’s Covishield, Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin, and the Russian made Sputnik V.

Clinical testing as a part of the train could also be carried out by collaboration between our bodies just like the Indian Council of Medical Research and the businesses that developed and produced the vaccines. The assessments will research components comparable to whether or not vaccines based mostly on completely different platforms might be given collectively, and which vaccines to manage within the first and second doses.
“We are looking for a combination of vaccines that provide better protection. At the moment, the vaccines used are providing protection against severe disease, but they are not providing protection from infection and transmission of the virus to the extent that we would have liked,” Dr Arora mentioned.
“Various factors have to be considered here. Proper research studies in actual field conditions have to be done… The whole purpose is to have better immune protection for the population without any adverse effects,” he mentioned.

“Both the vaccines individually would be safe, but the focus is also to see if they are safe together… These vaccines are produced in different platforms and we don’t want them to create difficulty and create complications, so every vaccine will probably not be possible to mix and match,” he added.
The mixing of Covid-19 vaccines has been mentioned on the Covid-19 working group, NTAGI, and National Expert Group on Covid-19 Vaccine Administration (NEGVAC), it’s learnt.

“These trials may be embedded in the country’s existing immunisation programme against Covid-19,” Dr Arora mentioned. “Discussions over the feasibility and value of mixing of Covid-19 vaccines have been proposed at every level.”
There are at present six Covid-19 vaccines within the pipeline — Serum Institute’s Covovax, Biological E’s Corbevax, Zydus Cadila’s ZyCov-D, Gennova’s mRNA vaccine, Bio E’s model of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, and Bharat Biotech’s intranasal Covid-19 vaccine. The authorities has been in discussions with Pfizer to deliver its mRNA vaccine to the nation this yr.