COVID-19 vaccines: assess whether to apply Cansino as a second dose after Sputnik V

The delay in the delivery of doses of COVID-19 vaccines manufactured abroad has delayed the application of the second doses that complement the device. To resolve this situation, The National Vaccination Commission (CONAIM) will debate tomorrow Wednesday the various options for an exchange of vaccines from different laboratories, a measure that has already been adopted in other countries for different reasons. In this analysis that the Commission will carry out, there is the possibility of applying the Cansino vaccine, made in China, as a second dose after the Sputnik V vaccine.

Today marks 6 months since the start of the COVID-19 vaccination plan in Argentina. The plan began on Tuesday, December 29, 2020 after receiving a supply of 300,000 doses for healthcare workers. The aim was to reduce the cases of complications of infection and death. Until yesterday, only 50% of Argentina’s adult population had received at least their first dose.

“A decision on the vaccine exchange has not yet been made. All possible strategies will be discussed within the National Immunization Commission, ”he said. Infobae the Undersecretary for Health Strategies of the Ministry of Health of the Nation, Juan Manuel Castelli. The official added: “We are monitoring the evidence for the use of heterologous vaccines. This means that we are evaluating different options, but it is different from having defined it ”.

Tomorrow afternoon, CONAIM will meet and analyze the different options. Using the Cansino vaccine as a second dose is not the only option as a measure that allows for interchangeability or combination of different vaccinations. As he could know Infobae, will also assess the possibility of combinations with the vaccines AstraZeneca and Sinopharm, which are manufactured on the same platform.

At tomorrow’s meeting, The results of different scientific studies that have evaluated the benefits and risks of combining different vaccines will be discussed. In addition, the availability of private laboratories and the COVAX mechanism for delivering doses in the coming months, arrival commitments and the level of coverage already achieved by vaccination will be taken into account. Tomorrow everything will be discussed, but no decision can be made if there are any doubts about the advisability of making adjustments in the vaccination plan.

They have already spoken out in favor of combining certain vaccines (a strategy known in English as “mix & match”) in Canada, Bahrain, the United States, Italy, South Korea and Spain. . The various ongoing clinical trials provide evidence to decide in which cases they should be combined.

The vaccines were based on different platforms to be developed. Those from Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna have created messenger RNA vaccines. In the case of the Sputnik V vaccines from the Gamaleya Institute in Russia, and in that of the vaccines from the University of Oxford and the company AstraZeneca, they were based on a platform of non-replicating viral vectors.

In the case of the Chinese Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccine, it is based on an inactivated viral platform. Either way, clinical trials have shown these vaccines to be effective and safe against coronavirus infection.

On June 4, the Russian Direct Investment Fund informed the agency Interfax that no adverse effects had been detected in a clinical trial that combined doses of AstraZeneca vaccine with Sputnik V, although the results have not yet been published in a peer-reviewed journal. In Spain, the CombivacS study is underway, which is evaluating a combined vaccination scheme using a second dose of Pfizer / BioNtech vaccine (called Comirnaty) in people under the age of 60 who have received a first dose of AstraZeneca (Vaxzevria) . The researchers published the results of the follow-up carried out 14 days after the second application: the parameters indicate that the combination of these particular vaccines is safe and effective.

As of June 28, 20 million vaccinations had been performed in Argentina. According to data from the Public Vaccination Monitor, a total of 20,156,628 vaccines have been applied: there are 16,173,340 people who have received one dose and 3,983,288 who already have their full schedule with two. In addition, According to data from the online registry which shows the vaccination operation in real time throughout Argentina, 24,285,391 doses have already been distributed in the country’s 24 jurisdictions.

Until, As reported by the National Ministry of Health, 24,997,645 doses have arrived in the country: 9,415,745 correspond to Sputnik V, (7,875,585 of component 1 and 1,540,160 of component 2); six million at the Sinopharm laboratory; 580,000 to AstraZeneca-Covishield, 1,944,000 to AstraZeneca via the WHO COVAX mechanism and 7,057,900 to AstraZeneca and Oxford, whose active ingredient was produced in Argentina.

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