Thailand is one of the countries that decided to mix different brands of Corona virus vaccines. Combining Sinovac with AstraZeneca, a study in Thailand claims this mixture is effective against the Delta variant of Corona virus.
The policy of mixing vaccines emerged after hundreds of health workers and medical personnel were still infected with COVID-19 even though they had been given two doses of Sinovac vaccine. Through this mixing, the vaccinated participants received Sinovac as the first injection and AstraZeneca as the second injection.
Health workers who have been vaccinated twice with Sinovac will also receive a third dose as a booster. This third dose could be the AstraZeneca vaccine or an mRNA-based vaccine such as Pfizer-BioNTech. This third dose is given three to four weeks after receiving the second injection of Sinovac vaccine.
Quoted from the Pattaya Mail, the Thai Department of Medical Sciences (DMS) reports that combining the Sinovac and AstraZeneca vaccines is very effective in dealing with the Delta variant of COVID-19.
Citing lab test results from a study conducted in conjunction with Siriraj Hospital, the Director General of DMS Dr. Supakit Sirilak said the combination of Sinovac and AstraZeneca is the best under current circumstances to accelerate herd immunity.
"Blood samples from 125 participants, aged 18-60, who received the Sinovac injection and then the AstraZeneca injection showed an average quantitative immunity level of 716, compared with 117 among those who received the full Sinovac and 207 people, for the two AstraZeneca injections," he said. .
Dr. Supakit said laboratory tests proved that combining Sinovac and AstraZeneca was the right decision. However, the test has not answered the question of duration of efficacy, so more research is needed to determine when we should get a booster dose.
Mixing Vaccines Can't Be Decided On Your Own
It should be noted that the practice of combining different branded Corona virus vaccines in the implementation of COVID-19 vaccination for the community cannot be decided by individuals, but by public bodies, depending on the available data. This warning was delivered by the World Health Organization (WHO) last July.
"While this combined practice may be of interest to people in countries experiencing a shortage of vaccine supplies, more research is needed to confirm its immunogenicity and safety," WHO spokeswoman Soumya Swaminathan, WHO Chief Scientist, told a regular press conference held by the United Nations in Geneva. .
"Data from studies of different vaccine combinations are being awaited. Their immunogenicity and safety need to be evaluated," Swaminathan said as quoted by Xinhua, Monday (23/8/2021).
According to information provided by the spokesperson at a press conference, a clinical trial led by Oxford University in the UK is also currently underway to investigate the combination of the AstraZeneca vaccine regiment and the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine.
The trial was recently expanded to include Moderna and Novavax vaccines. Furthermore, the WHO spokesperson said, preliminary findings from the trial showed that people who received the AstraZeneca vaccine for the first dose and the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine for the second dose were more likely to develop fever and other minor side effects than if they had had a fever. received two doses of AstraZeneca vaccine.
