NEW DELHI, June 26 (Xinhua) -- Director of India's premier health institute, All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in New Delhi Dr Randeep Guleria said Saturday that mixing doses of two different vaccines may improve their efficacy against COVID-19 mutations.
Guleria said some data suggested that mixing COVID-19 vaccines could generate better immunity or more antibodies and is a "definite possibility" but more information is needed before a decision can be taken.
Guleria made the comments during an interview with a local television news channel NDTV.
"This is something that has been looked at in the past - giving one vaccine as the priming shot and another as the booster. Some data suggests mixing vaccines leads to slightly higher side effects, but other data suggests it may lead to better immunity and antibody protection," Guleria told the channel.
"One needs more data... a large number of vaccines will be available in the future... you will have Pfizer, Moderna, Sputnik V and Zydus Cadila. Therefore which combination is better is something we don't know at this time... but yes, initial studies suggest it may be an option."
Last month, the Indian federal government announced that as part of its new immunization policy, government experts will investigate different combinations of COVID-19 vaccine doses to see whether they may improve efficacy.
Dr Guleria also played down fears that existing vaccines may be ineffective against the Delta Plus variant, saying more data is needed to establish the mutated strain's potential immune escape abilities.
He stressed the importance of being vaccinated despite these fears.
"If you are vaccinated fully and come in contact with the virus you may still be infected, but the severity may be much lesser."
