Britain to allow COVID-19 vaccine mix on rare occasions

LONDON (Reuters) – Britain will allow people to be injected with different COVID-19 vaccines on rare occasions, despite a lack of evidence on the extent of immunity offered by the mixture of doses.

Unlike other global strategies, the government has said people could receive a mixture of two injections of COVID-19, for example if the same dose of vaccine were out of stock, according to guidelines released on New Years Eve. ” (If) the same vaccine is not available, or if the first product received is unknown, it is reasonable to offer a dose of the product available locally to complete the schedule, ”according to the guidelines.

Mary Ramsay, head of vaccinations at Public Health England, said this would only happen on very rare occasions and the government does not recommend mixing vaccines, which require at least two doses given several weeks apart .

“Every effort should be made to give them the same vaccine, but when that is not possible, it is better to give a second dose of another vaccine than not at all,” she said.

COVID-19 has killed more than 74,000 people in Britain – the second-highest death toll in Europe, and health officials are rushing to deliver doses to help end the pandemic as fears grow that the health service is overwhelmed.

Earlier this week, the government reactivated emergency hospitals built at the start of the outbreak as wards filled with COVID-19 patients. Britain has been at the forefront of approving the new coronavirus vaccines, becoming the first country to grant Pfizer emergency clearance. / BioNTech and AstraZeneca vaccines / University of Oxford last month.

The two vaccines are meant to be given as two shots, several weeks apart, but they were not designed to be mixed.

The new government guidelines say there is “no evidence of the interchangeability of COVID-19 vaccines although studies are ongoing.”

However, the advisory stated that while every effort should be made to complete the dosing regimen with the same vaccine, if the patient is at “immediate high risk” or is considered “unlikely to recur”, he may receive different vaccines.

Britain sparked controversy earlier this week when it announced plans to delay delivery of the coronavirus booster vaccine to ensure more people can benefit from the more limited protection conferred by a single dose.

Leading US infectious disease expert Anthony Fauci said on Friday he disagreed with Britain’s approach of postponing the second dose to 12 weeks.

“I wouldn’t be in favor of that,” he told CNN. “We will continue to do what we are doing.”