Mixing Covid-19 vaccines ‘could ease supply shortages’ as Oxford study looks at which jabs and when

Name: SCMP Explains: What’s in a Covid-19 vaccine?
Uploaded: 2021-05-13T13:10:04.000Z
Duration: 6 min 18 s
Description: SCMP Explains: What’s in a Covid-19 vaccine?

University of Oxford-led study suggests AstraZeneca shot followed by Pfizer causes stronger initial side-effects, but finds no safety issue

The results have yet to show how well the combination defends against the coronavirus

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The trial’s leader said further results could show whether combining jabs brings an improved immune response. Photo: PA via Getty Images

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Published: 9:10pm, 13 May 2021Updated: 10:59pm, 13 May 2021

Mixing doses of different Covid-19 vaccines could help tackle supply shortages, but more trials are needed to find the best combinations and dose intervals, experts say.

The latest study, led by the University of Oxford, suggested that a vaccine cocktail of AstraZeneca’s shot followed by Pfizer’s four weeks later increased side-effects such as fatigue and headaches.

But the study, of 830 people aged over 50, has yet to show how well the combination defends against the coronavirus.

The study did not identify any safety issues and the stronger side-effects vanished after a few days, according to Matthew Snape, an Oxford paediatrics and vaccinology professor who is leading the trial.

06:18

SCMP Explains: What’s in a Covid-19 vaccine?

“Whether or not this will relate to an improved immune response, we don’t know yet; we’ll be finding out those results in a few weeks’ time,” Bloomberg quoted Snape as saying.

The researchers are exploring a wider interval of 12 weeks between jabs and further studies with vaccines by Moderna and Novavax are continuing, they said in a paper published in medical journal The Lancet on Wednesday.

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