No recommendation on mixing Covid vaccines, govt tells Parliament
The government on Tuesday informed the Parliament that no recommendation was made on mixing anti-coronavirus vaccines.
"COVID-19 vaccines have been developed recently. Therefore, scientific evidence about mix and match studies of different vaccines is still evolving," Minister of State for Health Bharati Pravin Pawar said in a written reply before the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday.
She said no recommendation has been made so far to mix the first and second doses of Covid vaccines by the National Technical Advisory Group on Immunization or the National Expert Group on Vaccine Administration for COVID-19.
There is no specific recommendation from the World Health Organization presently on mix and match of vaccines, the minister added.
READ MORE: CDSCO expert panel recommends nod to study on mixing doses of Covaxin, Covishield
She was responding to a question on whether one can mix first and second doses of COVID vaccines and administer them to people who need it and whether any studies have been carried out or is there any scientific evidence that such mixing would not have any adverse impact on people.
Last week, news agency PTI had reported quoting official sources that an expert panel of India's central drug authority recommended granting permission to the Christian Medical College (CMC) in Vellore for conducting a clinical trial of mixing of two COVID-19 vaccines -- Covaxin and Covishield.
The panel also recommended giving approval to Bharat Biotech for carrying out a study on interchangeability of its Covaxin and the under-trial adenoviral intranasal vaccine candidate BBV154, but asked the Hyderabad-based firm to remove the word "interchangeability" from the study title and submit a revised protocol for approval.
READ MORE: Over 49 crore vaccine doses given to states, 3 crore still unutilised, says Centre
