Trials tested in the UK by mixing Covid vaccines

LONDON – A test is being launched in the UK to see if using different Covid-19 vaccines for first and second doses works to make vaccination programs across the country more flexible.

The trial, led by Oxford University and run by the National Vaccination Register Assessment Consortium, will assess the feasibility of using a different vaccine for the first “primary” vaccine to the vaccine. “Raise”.

It is hoped that the study will help policymakers understand whether a combination of Covid vaccines could be a way of working to increase the flexibility of vaccine programs and whether it could provide even better protection.

“Demonstrating that these vaccines can be used interchangeably in the same register will greatly increase the flexibility of vaccine delivery, and could provide an indication of how you can extend the scope of their protection against virus strains. new enlargement, “Matthew Snape, principal investigator of the case and associate professor of Pediatrics and Vaccinology at Oxford University, said Thursday.

The lawsuit, formally known as the “COVID-19 Heterologous Prime Boost Study” but received the “Com-Cov” study, employs more than 800 volunteers aged 50 and over in England to evaluate the four different combinations of prime and booster vaccines.

It will test the first dose of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine and then increase it with either the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine or another dose of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine. The research will also look at the first dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine and then an increase in the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine, or another dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine. The UK government has named the lawsuit “the world first. ”

These are assessed at two different dosing schedules: at four-week intervals to provide early interval data readings, and at 12-week intervals. This last dosing period is the current UK vaccination policy: Delays in the second dose mean more people get their first vaccinations more quickly amid a tight supply of shots.

Although the policy has been seen to be controversial, with some experts concerned that it could make vaccines used in the UK as effective; so far only Oxford University-AstraZeneca and Pfizer-BioNTech candidates are being used, with a Moderna bullet to be added to the basket of vaccines to be used later in the spring.

However, Oxford University published a study on Wednesday in which it showed that a delay of 12 weeks between the first and second doses of AstraZeneca injection increases the effectiveness of the vaccine.

The researchers found that the bullet was 76% effective in preventing symptomatic infection for three months after a single dose, and that the efficacy rate rose to 82.4% at a 12-week interval at at least before the second dose. When the second dose was given less than six weeks after the first, the efficacy rate was 54.9%.

In the latest “Com-Cov” study, researchers will collect blood samples from test volunteers and monitor the effect of different dosing regimes on participants ’immune responses, as well as look for side effects any addition to the new combinations of vaccines.

The study will run for 13 months and was backed by £ 7 million ($ 9.5 million) of government funding from the Vaccines Action Group, which was set up by the UK in April last year to investigate and administer coronavirus vaccination result.

Dr Snape said the study was “extremely interesting,” before adding “it will provide vital information for the distribution of vaccines in the UK and around the world.”

Wealthier countries are scrambling to vaccinate as many people as possible as national locksmiths, which aim to limit the spread of disease and prevent hospitals from being overcrowded, are ruining economies.

The UK has been hit hard by the pandemic and has escalated in the winter, aided by a viral variant that emerged in the now southeastern south-east of England. be a major league in the country.

The UK currently has the fourth highest number of cases in the UK, with more than 3.8 million confirmed diseases, according to a count from Johns Hopkins University, and they have recorded 109,547 deaths.

The UK government was quick to order coronavirus vaccines from a number of manufacturers early last year, and to approve the vaccines currently in use. Its vaccination program has been widely praised for being flexible and accessible, and has targeted the 15 million people vaccinated in its four main priority groups, including health and care workers, the elderly and the elderly. people over 70 and anyone who is considered clinically vulnerable in mid-February.

The latest government data, as of Wednesday, shows that just over 10 million people have received the first dose of vaccine, and just under 500,000 have received the second dose as well. The Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine, which is produced in Britain, makes up the bulk of the UK vaccine program.

Deputy Chief Medical Officer and Chief Responsible Officer for the study, Professor Jonathan Van-Tam, said the research could even show that other vaccines may have the level of antibodies needed to fight Covid-19 infection. increase.

“It is possible that even with the combination of vaccines, the enhanced immune response could lead to even higher antibody levels that last longer; unless this is evaluated in a clinical trial we will not know. This study will give us a better understanding of how we can use vaccines to stay on top of this cloud disease, “he said.

UK vaccination minister Nadhim Zahawi told the BBC on Thursday that, for now, the country’s vaccination program will continue as usual: “At this time we will not change anything,” Zahawi told Today’s program. ‘.

“If you have received the Pfizer BioNTech vaccine for your first dose, you will have the Pfizer BioNTech vaccine for your second dose. If you have received Oxford-AstraZeneca, you will have Oxford-AstraZeneca for your second dose.”