- Friday, April 18, 2025
By: Pramod Kumar
INDIA’s drugs regulator has given approval to study the mixing of Covaxin and Covishield vaccine doses.
The Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) has accepted a proposal to conduct a study by mixing two different Covid-19 vaccines.
The study will be done at Christian Medical College in Tamil Nadu’s Vellore.
“Permission has been granted for a research study at CMC Vellore on mixing of vaccine doses,” said Dr VK Paul, member, Niti Aayog.
The Subjects Experts Committee (SEC) of the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO) had, on July 29, recommended the study.
The proposed trial will see 300 volunteers being administered a dose each of Covaxin and Covishield, reports said.
The study will examine whether two different vaccine doses could be administered for a person to be fully vaccinated against the coronavirus disease, instead of the existing practice of administering twin shots of the same vaccine.
Recent research by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) concluded that combining two different shots is “safe and effective.”
The ICMR research had analysed an “accidental” mixing of Covishield and Covaxin in a village in Uttar Pradesh, in May. The incident saw recipients being administered Covaxin as second dose, six weeks after they received Covishield as first.
Upon analysis, the ICMR found that “combining two different Covid-19 vaccines gives better immune response than two doses of the same vaccine.”
According to Dr Gagandeep Kang, a top virologist, more studies are needed to reach a definitive conclusion to determine the efficacy of mixing of two different vaccines in preventing Covid-19.
Covaxin and Covishield are the first two vaccines that were approved by the DCGI for the nationwide inoculation drive, which began on January 16.
