Centre’s decision on mix-and-match boosters likely in two weeks: Official
NEW DELHI: The government may be able to decide in two weeks whether to mix and match the booster doses of approved Covid-19 vaccines based on India-specific trial data being prepared by the Christian Medical College in Vellore, according to people familiar with the development.
CMC Vellore, which was permitted to conduct homologous as well as heterologous booster dose trial by the national drugs regulator last year, is soon going to generate adequate data to be able to present before the subject experts of Central Drug Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO).
“We got permission from the health ministry screening committee to test samples from the study late last week. Two weeks would be needed to generate data,” said Gagandeep Kang, senior vaccine
expert and faculty at CMC Vellore, who is spearheading the study.
“The sample testing has begun and in a week or so we should be able to generate relevant data that will be submitted first to the data safety and monitoring board. Following their approval, we will present the data to CDSCO,” Kang said. “We have sought an appointment from the drugs regulator.”
In July last year, the national drugs regulator permitted CMC Vellore to conduct the study, and in March, the preliminary findings were shared with national technical advisory group on immunisation (NTAGI) for analysis. NTAGI in its last meeting sought more data on neutralising antibodies, said people familiar with the matter. The researchers again applied to the health ministry for approval to conduct further testing.
“The data on IGG anti-spike antibodies was presented to NTAGI’S Covid19 Working Group by Dr. Winsley Rose. With health ministry screening committee permission, we will be able to measure antibodies to other parts of the virus and also surrogate neutralising antibodies that measure the ability to reduce binding of the spike protein to the ACE2 receptor,” Kang said.
The vaccines being tested are the primary dose of Covishield, and Covaxin as the booster dose, and vice versa, as both these vaccines have been largely administered under the national Covid-19 immunisation programme.