WHO warns against mixing and pairing COVID vaccines



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The World Health Organization chief scientist on Monday advised people against mixing and matching COVID-19 vaccines from different manufacturers, calling it a “dangerous trend” because there is very little information available to them. this subject.

“So it’s a bit of a dangerous trend here. We’re in an area with no data and no evidence here when it comes to mix and match. There is limited data on mix and match. It will be a chaotic situation in there. countries if citizens begin to decide when and who will take a second, third and fourth dose. “

Dr Soumya Swaminathan made his comments during the latest WHO online briefing.

Infectious disease experts are wondering whether people who have received Johnson & Johnson’s single-dose vaccine should be boosted with the Pfizer or Moderna mRNA-based vaccine, which is said to be more effective against the highly contagious Delta variant.

One of those who mixed up, Dr. Angela Rasmussen, a researcher at the Vaccine and Infectious Disease Organization at the University of Saskatchewan, made headlines after she said on Twitter that she received a dose of Pfizer vaccine in June after receiving J&J in April. .

She also advised other J&J beneficiaries, especially those living in areas with low vaccination rates, to talk to their doctors about doing the same.

In addition, Pfizer is pushing US and European regulators to authorize a third booster to complete its two-dose regimen. But health officials, including WHO’s Swaminathan, said there was no medical evidence that a third injection of Pfizer was needed.

“It has to be based on science and data, not on individual companies.”

Instead of offering booster shots to rich and highly vaccinated countries, the WHO director-general said on Monday that companies like Pfizer should send these vaccines to the WHO for donation to poorer countries whose citizens unvaccinated in desperate need against a Delta variant he described as “circling the world at a breakneck pace.”

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