Green Signals Study on Combining Covishield and Covaxin Doses by an Expert Panel

According to official sources, a subject committee of India’s central drug authority has recommended granting permission to the Christian Medical College (CMC) in Vellore to conduct a clinical trial of mixing two Covid-19 vaccines — Covaxin and Covishield. This will be India’s first mix and match study of the Covid-19 vaccines. There have been murmurs that mixing two different Covid-19 vaccines is more efficient in protection against coronavirus that is continuing to mutate and evolve.

“The SEC (subject expert committee) after detailed deliberations 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,” a source said

“The aim of the study is to assess whether a person can be given two different vaccine shots — one each of Covishield and Covaxin — to complete the inoculation course,” the source said.

The mixing and matching of Covid-19 vaccines is a method of immunisation that involves using two doses of the shot from different manufacturers. Experts are of the view that using two different vaccines could trigger a better immune response and offer better protection against Coronavirus.

Application by Biological E Discussed

The expert group also discussed the application by Biological E for conducting Phase 2/3 clinical trial of its COVID-19 vaccine in the paediatric population aged 5 to 17 years, along with the safety and immunogenicity data (after dose 1) from the ongoing phase 2/3 clinical trial on adults.

“After deliberation, the committee recommended that the safety and immunogenicity data from phase 2 part of the phase 2/3 clinical trial on adults should be submitted to the CDSCO (Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation),” the source said.