LONDON (Reuters) – Britain will allow people to receive shots of different COVID-19 vaccines on rare occasions, despite a lack of evidence on the level of immunity afforded by mixing doses.
Notwithstanding other strategies worldwide, the government said people could get a mix-and-match of two COVID-19 shots, for example, if the same vaccine dose was out of stock, according to guidelines published New Year’s Eve. “(If) the same vaccine is not available, or if the first product received is unknown, it is reasonable to offer one dose of the topically available product to complete the schedule,” the guidelines said.
Mary Ramsay, chief of immunizations at Public Health England, said this would only happen on very rare occasions, and that the government does not recommend mixing vaccines, which require at least two doses several weeks apart.
“Every effort must be made to give them the same vaccine, but if that is not possible, it is better to give a second dose of a different vaccine than not at all,” she said.
COVID-19 has killed more than 74,000 people in Britain – the second highest death toll in Europe, and health officials are rushing to administer doses to help end the pandemic as fears grow that the health service could be overwhelmed.
Earlier this week, the government reactivated emergency hospitals built at the start of the outbreak, as the wards are full of COVID-19 patients. / BioNTech and the AstraZeneca / University of Oxford vaccines last month.
Both vaccines are intended to be given as two injections several weeks apart, but they were not intended to be mixed together.
According to the new government guidelines, there is “no evidence of interchangeability of the COVID-19 vaccines, although studies are ongoing.”
However, the opinion stated that while every effort should be made to complete the dosing schedule with the same vaccine, the patient is “immediately at high risk” or deemed “unlikely to come again,” they may have different vaccines. to get.
Britain sparked controversy earlier this week by announcing plans to delay giving the coronavirus booster vaccine in an effort to ensure that more people can receive the more limited protection of a single dose.
Top American infectious disease expert Anthony Fauci said on Friday that he disagreed with the UK’s approach to delaying the second dose to 12 weeks.
“I wouldn’t be in favor of that,” he told CNN. “We will continue to do what we do.”
Reporting by Andrew MacAskill; Editing by Helen Popper