Topline
The University of Oxford will lead the first trial exploring whether different Covid-19 vaccines can be used interchangeably, the University’s vaccine group said Thursday, an effort that could make vaccination programs more flexible and even provide better protection against the disease.
The U.K. is trialling mixing different types of Covid-19 vaccine.
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Key Facts
The study, run by the U.K. National Immunisation Schedule Evaluation Consortium, will recruit over 800 people over the age of 50 to evaluate the feasibility of using one vaccine for the first “prime” shot and different one for the second “booster” shot.
At first, the trial will use the Oxford-AstraZeneca and Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines, both already cleared for emergency use in the U.K., with others potentially being added at a later date.
Britain’s Deputy Chief Medical Officer, Jonathan Van-Tam, said the trial would offer “greater insight” into the use of vaccines against Covid-19, and provide data that could support a “more flexible immunization programme” in light of global supply chain issues.
“It is also even possible that by combining vaccines, the immune response could be enhanced giving even higher antibody levels that last longer,” Van-Tam added.
The study will also evaluate the effectiveness of different vaccine combinations when the booster shot is given after different intervals: one after four weeks and another after 12, which is the U.K.’s current approach in a bid to give as many people some form of immunity as quickly as possible.
If the results are promising, the U.K. government said it would consider altering its national vaccination strategy.
Crucial Quote
Professor Matthew Snape, Oxford’s chief investigator on the trial, said: “This is a tremendously exciting study that will provide information vital to the roll out of vaccines in the U.K. and globally… If we do show that these vaccines can be used interchangeably in the same schedule this will greatly increase the flexibility of vaccine delivery, and could provide clues as to how to increase the breadth of protection against new virus strains.”
Tangent
Some vaccines work better if a different vaccine is used for the booster shot, which is known as heterologous boosting. Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine, which early studies indicate to be 92% effective at preventing Covid-19, makes use of the principle. It uses of a different modified virus in each shot to carry the immunity-conveying instructions into the body.
Further Reading
Oxford leads first trial investigating dosing with alternating vaccines (Oxford Vaccine Group)
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