India's drug regulator DCGI allows study on mixing Covaxin, Covishield vaccines

After an expert panel of the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO) last month recommended granting permission to mix Covaxin and Covishield vaccine doses, India's Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) has given its approval, reports said.

Reports say the study will be conducted by the Christian Medical College (CMC) in Vellore involving 300 healthy volunteers.

A study in the UK had recently revealed that one dosage of the AstraZeneca vaccine with a dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine produces strong immunological responses.

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The Oxford study said mixed does of produced high concentrations of antibodies against the SARS-CoV2 spike IgG protein.

The study said although two doses of Pfizer were effective but one dose of Pfizer and Oxford's AstraZeneca in "mix and match"combinationwas equally effective.

India's health ministry had said earlier that mixing vaccines hadn't become the protocol yet with harmful effects not ruled out due to lack of research.

However, VK Paul, Niti Ayog member, had informedthere were moves to test mixing of vaccines in the future.

The Indian government last week had given emergency use authorisation to Johnson and Johnson’s single-dose COVID-19 vaccine. The vaccine joined Covishield, Covaxin, Moderna and Sputnik V which were earlier approved in the country.

India on Tuesday had reported 38,353 in 24 hours on Tuesday a rise of over 10,000 from Monday as the country continues to grapple with the virus even as the country's health minister said Russia's Sputnik V shot was 83 per cent effective against the hightly transferable Delta variant.

(With inputs from Agencies)