Mixing COVID-19 Vaccines Discouraged

The World Health Organization (WHO) chief scientist Dr. Soumya Swaminathan stated the ‘WHO advised against people mixing and matching COVID-19 vaccines from different manufacturers.’ 

Dr. Swaminathan added this is a “dangerous trend,” as there is very little data available about its health impact. ‘We are in a data-free, evidence-free zone as far as to mix and match,’ reported Reuters on July 12, 2021.

She added, “Studies are going on. We need to wait for that. Maybe it will be a very good approach. But, at the moment, we only have data on the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine, followed by Pfizer.” 

“It will be a chaotic situation in countries if citizens start deciding when and who will be taking a second, a third, and a fourth dose.”

She said, “We are tracking policies in countries. We have four countries that have announced a booster program, and a few more are thinking about it.”

Previous studies focused on mixing COVID-19 vaccines include, but are not limited to, on May 19, 2021, researchers at the Carlos III Health Institute in Madrid announced results from the CombiVacS trial. 

This limited study found a robust immune response in people who received the BioNTech - Pfizer (Comirnaty) vaccine after initially being dosed with Oxford–AstraZeneca (Vaxzevria) vaccine.

As of July 2, 2021, the U.S. CDC’s website states ‘the safety and efficacy of a mixed-product series have not been evaluated. Therefore, both doses of the mRNA COVID-19 vaccines (Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna) series should be completed with the same product.’

Soumya Swaminathan is an Indian Paediatrician and Clinical Scientist known for her work in Tuberculosis. She is currently positioned as Secretary, Department of Health Research - Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India, and Director General of Indian Council of Medical Research, the apex body in India to formulate, coordinate, and promote biomedical research. She holds M.B.B.S. from Armed Forces Medical College (India) and M. D. from All India Institute of Medical Sciences and a Diplomate of National Board from National Board of Examinations. She subsequently held Post Doctoral Medical Fellowship in Pediatric Pulmonology at the Children's Hospital Los Angeles, Keck School of Medicine at the University of Southern California.

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