Is it Safe to Mix Covid Vaccinations?

Hyderabad: There has been a lot of debate regarding the mixing of Covid19 vaccines. Questions regarding the safety, in case two different vaccine doses are taken? According to a study presented by AIG Hospitals in Hyderabad on Monday, mixing and combining different Covid vaccinations is safe and results in a stronger antibody response.

The study by AIG Hospitals and Asian Healthcare Foundation experts aimed to assess the safety and effects of mixing Covishield with Covaxin, as well as investigate the antibody response.

While the study positively demonstrated that mixing vaccinations is perfectly safe, spike-protein neutralizing antibodies were found to be considerably greater in the mixed vaccine groups than in the same-vaccine groups.

The team consisted of 330 healthy volunteers who had never been vaccinated and had never been infected with Covid. Of them, 44 (about 13%) were found to be seronegative, meaning they lacked Covid-related antibodies, whereas the remaining 87 percent were found to have Covid-related antibodies.

"Antibodies that neutralize spike proteins destroy the virus and diminish its overall infectivity." The spike-protein antibody response is four times stronger when the first and second doses are of different vaccinations, compared to two doses of the same vaccine, according to Dr. Reddy.