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World Health Organization (WHO) chief scientist Dr Soumya Swaminathan on Monday warned against mixing and pairing different COVID-19 vaccines, calling it a “dangerous trend.”
She spoke about the lack of data on the safety of this process. “There are people who think of mixing and matching. We get a lot of inquiries from people who say they have taken one and are considering taking another. It’s a bit of a dangerous trend here. We are in an area with no data and no evidence when it comes to mix and match, ”she said in an online briefing.
When vaccines are mixed and matched, two doses of two different vaccines are used to immunize people. Currently widely used vaccines include Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna, AstraZeneca / Covishield, Covaxin from Bharat Biotech and Sputnik V.
All of these vaccines are given in two doses, with predetermined intervals between the two injections. Sputnik V also has a single dose iteration called Sputnik V Lite. Johnson & Johnson’s vaccine is also a single injection vaccine.
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“Data on mix and match is limited. There are studies in progress, we have to wait for that. It might be a very good approach. But, at the moment, we only have data on the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine, followed by Pfizer. It will be a chaotic situation in countries if citizens start to decide when and who will take a second, third and fourth dose, ”she added during the briefing.
The organization’s chief executive, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, called the supply of Covid vaccines “extremely uneven and inequitable”. “Some countries and regions are actually ordering millions of booster doses before other countries have had supplies to immunize their health workers and the most vulnerable,” Tedros said.
Building on this sentiment, Swaminathan stressed the importance of an equal distribution of vaccines around the world. “We have four countries that have announced recall programs and a few more that are thinking about it. If 11 high and upper middle income countries decide they will opt for a booster for their population, or even for subgroups, that will require an additional 800 million doses of the vaccine, ”she added.
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Speaking of the booster shots, Swaminathan said there was no evidence that an injection would be needed. Instead, she said surplus vaccines should be sent to less developed regions of the world where even their frontline workers and vulnerable populations have not received the vaccines.
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