A study that included 98 individuals, of which 18 had been accidently given Covishield as first dose and Covaxin as the second dose in Uttar Pradesh, revealed that combining the two vaccines evoked better immunogenicity compared to two doses of the same vaccine.

The study, conducted by ICMR, noted that inoculation with a combination of Covishield and Covaxin was safe and the adverse effects appeared to be similar to the same dose regimen. Apart from the 18 individuals who had been administered one dose of Covishield and second dose of Covaxin, 40 individuals who had received two doses of Covishield and 40 who had been given two doses of Covaxin, were included in the study. The duration of the study was from May to June this year. The immunogenicity profile against Alpha, Beta and Delta variants in the heterologous group appeared to be superior and IgG antibody and neutralizing antibody response was significantly higher in the heterologous group, compared to the homologous groups. The study has been uploaded on the preprint server medRxiv, and awaits peer review… (ET Healthworld – PTI, August 8, 2021)