The Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) approved a study on mixing Covaxin and Covishield Covid-19 vaccines in India on Tuesday in an effort to ramp up the country’s vaccine campaign.
Christian Medical College in Vellore will perform the study and clinical trials, according to the DCGI.
As per a report by India Today, a Subject Expert Committee of the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO) had on July 29 recommended conducting this study.
The expert committee recommended granting permission to CMC, Vellore for conducting the Phase-4 clinical trial covering 300 healthy volunteers for mixing of Covid-19 vaccines Covaxin and Covishield.
Earlier, the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) had revealed in its study that the combination of Covaxin and Covishield vaccines, the two main vaccines of the Covid-19 vaccination programme, conducted on 18 people, has elicited better safety and immunogenicity results.
In the study, ICMR compared the safety and immunogenicity profile with those individuals who received either Covaxin or Covishield and it showed better results.
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The nationwide vaccination program at this time had entered in its fourth month of its existence and the event of mixed dosing raised considerable anxiety in public domain with a potential to contributing to vaccine hesitancy.
Vaccine Mixing in Other Countries:
While many countries have already started administering mix-and-match combinations of different COVID-19 vaccines, India is yet to approve such a move, citing a lack of clinical trial data on the vaccines being used in the country.
Research conducted in other countries have shown encouraging results.
Interim results of a study conducted by the Oxford University and published in the medical journal Lancet found that one dose of AstraZeneca vaccine followed by Pfizer produced higher T-cell response than two doses of AstraZeneca.
The cumulative COVID-19 vaccine doses administered in the country has reached nearly 52 crore, the Union health ministry said on Tuesday. More than 37 lakh (37,76,765) doses have been administered during the day, according to the 7 pm provisional report.
(With inputs from ANI and PTI)
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