Image Credit: aiims.edu
Randeep Guleria, the Director of AIIMS Delhi, told NDTV in an interview that mixing COVID-19 vaccines is a possibility. The doctor said that some initial studies indicate that mixing could be an option but added that more data would be required before taking a decision in this regard.
The idea of mixing vaccines, also known as vaccine cocktail, involves giving one vaccine as a primary shot and another vaccine as a booster dose. The medical journal Lancet had recently published data on such a study in which one dose each of AstraZeneca and the Pfizer vaccine was given to the participants. The study revealed higher side effects while its efficacy data hasn’t been released yet.
Talking of the data, Dr Guleria said that some studies indicate that mixing vaccines causes slightly higher side effects while others say that it can lead to better immunity among people.
On the fear generated by the Delta plus variant, the doctor informed that more data would be required to see if the strain could make the current vaccines ineffective against COVID-19. He sought to encourage vaccination by saying that the severity of the virus becomes less if a vaccinated individual contracts the disease.
While the government has increased the time interval between two doses of Covishield to 12-16 weeks, Dr Guleria said that a booster dose might be required earlier in view of the Delta variant which is currently the dominant strain in the country.
The renowned doctor also tried to play down the danger of the third wave of Coronavirus. He said that the next wave would not be as severe as the second wave but maintained that the virus must not be underestimated.
Meanwhile, India reported 48,698 new cases of COVID-19 and 1,183 deaths due to the pandemic on Saturday.