Study On Mixing Covaxin, Covishield By CMC Vellore Gets DCGI Approval

A study on mixing Covishiled and Covaxin, two of the three Covid-19 vaccines currently available in India, has been approved by the Drugs Controller General Of India (DCGI), Niti Aayog member VK Paul said on Tuesday. The study will be conducted by the Christian Medical College (CMC) in Tamil Nadu’s Vellore

Paul said at a press conference, “Permission has been granted for a research study by CMC Vellore on mixing of vaccines doses.”

On July 29, the Subject Expert Committee of the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO) had said that it was in favour of mixing Covishiled and Covaxin to inoculate India’s population and had recommended granting to CMC, Vellore for conducting a clinical trial on the efficacy of mixing the two vaccines.

Also read: Covishield, Covaxin Mix Shows Positive Results. Here are Nations Already Offering Vaccine Cocktail

Meanwhile, Pune-based National Institute of Virology (NIV) conducted a study on 18 people who had been mistakenly given both Covaxin and Covishield in Uttar Pradhesh’s Siddharth Nagar. The study found that combining the two vaccines saw better immunogenicity than two doses of the same vaccine.

The study compared the safety and immunogenicity profile of these 18 people against those who received either Covishield or Covaxin for both doses.

The study has not yet been peer-reviewed.

Canada, Thailand, Vietnam, Bhutan, UK and the US have all allowed the mixing of different vaccine doses. A study in Denmark, combining doses of AstraZeneca’s vaccine, known as Covishield in India, with Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna’s jab showed it provided good protection against the Covid-19 virus. A study in Russia showed that mixing Sputnik V, also available in India, with the AstraZeneca vaccine had no serious side effects.

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