British government allows mixing doses of different coronavirus vaccines

• UK government allows mixing doses of coronavirus vaccines
• The move comes despite the lack of evidence on the immunity offered by the combination of doses

LONDON: The British government will allow people to receive injections of different coronavirus vaccines on rare occasions.

The move comes despite a lack of evidence on the extent of immunity offered by the combination of coronavirus vaccines.

The government has said that people can receive a combination of two COVDI-19 injections if, for example, the same dose of vaccine is not available.

“(If) the same vaccine is not available, or if the first product received is unknown, it is reasonable to offer a dose of the product available locally to complete the program,” read the new guidelines issued on New Year’s Eve.

He explained that “there is no evidence on the interchangeability of COVID-19 vaccines although studies are being carried out.”

However, the guidelines added that while every effort should be made to complete the dosing regimen with the same vaccine, if the patient is at “immediate high risk” or deemed “unlikely to attend again,” they can administer different vaccines.

Read more: Volunteers who received placebo will receive coronavirus vaccine, says Pfizer-BioNTech

Public Health England Head of Immunizations Mary Ramsay said this would only happen on extremely rare occasions and that the government did not recommend mixing vaccines, which require at least two doses given several weeks apart.

“Every effort should be made to give them the same vaccine, but when this is not possible, it is better to give a second dose of another vaccine than not to give it,” he said.

Britain has been at the forefront in approving new coronavirus vaccines, becoming the first country to grant emergency clearance to the Pfizer / BioNTech and AstraZeneca / University of Oxford vaccines last month.

Both vaccines are designed to be given in two injections, several weeks apart, but they were not designed to mix.

At least 74,000 people have died due to the coronavirus in Britain, making it the second highest death toll in Europe.

Health officials are rushing to deliver doses to help end the pandemic as fears mount that the health service will be overwhelmed. The government has reactivated emergency hospitals built at the beginning of the outbreak as wards fill with COVID-19 patients.

Also read: US falls short of goal of vaccinating 20 million people by December 2020

Earlier this week, the UK sparked controversy by announcing plans to delay the administration of the coronavirus vaccine booster injection in an attempt to ensure that more people could receive the more limited protection conferred by a single dose.

America’s leading infectious disease expert, Anthony Fauci, said on Friday that he disagreed with the British approach of delaying the second dose for up to 12 weeks. “I would not be in favor of that,” he said. CNN. “We are going to continue doing what we are doing.”