Oxford to trial combination of vaccine shots

The trial will show if different doses will give greater flexibility in pressured vaccine delivery schedules

LONDON/WASHINGTON: Oxford University announced on Thursday it will launch a medical trial alternating doses of Covid-19 vaccines created by different manufacturers, the first study of its kind.

The trial will show whether different Covid doses - those created by the Astrazeneca and Pfizer-biontech pharma companies - can be used interchangeably to allow greater flexibility in pressured vaccine delivery schedules.

The British government’s deputy chief medical officer, Jonathan Van-tam, said the trial would offer “greater insight” into the use of vaccines against Covid.

“Given the inevitable challenges of immunising large numbers of the population against Covid-19 and potential global supply constraints, there are definite advantages to having data that could support a more flexible immunisation programme,” Van-tam said.

“It is also even possible that by combining vaccines, the immune response could be enhanced giving even higher antibody levels that last longer,” Van-tam added.

The 13-month study will compare different combinations of prime and booster doses of the Astrazeneca and Pfizer vaccines at intervals of four and 12 weeks.

Walensky, director of the US CDC, as saying, “There’s data that suggests that some of the variants, the B.1.1.7 variant, may actually... lead to increased mortality, and the jury’s still out with regard to how these vaccines are going to work against these variants.”