COVID vaccines: combining AstraZeneca and Pfizer may boost immunity – new study.

[2greys]

Late last year, I asked: is it safe to have more than one type of COVID-19 vaccine? A trial has now addressed that question, as well as what effect combining different vaccine types has on immunity.

Most COVID-19 vaccines require two doses, and the usual strategy is to give people the same vaccine type for both. But the Com-Cov study, led by the University of Oxford, recruited over 800 participants from across the UK to investigate the effects of giving people different vaccines for their first and second jabs. Two vaccines were studied: those made by Pfizer and AstraZeneca.

So, is mix and match an option? The trial’s results are preliminary, having yet to be reviewed by other scientists, but the answer appears to be yes. Giving people different types of COVID-19 vaccine appears not only to be safe, but also a potential way of boosting protection against the coronavirus.

However, the exact benefits depend on which vaccine goes first and which second. Taking the AstraZeneca vaccine followed by the Pfizer one resulted in a striking increase in antibodies against the coronavirus’s spike protein (a key part of its outer structure) compared to using the AstraZeneca vaccine for both doses or Pfizer followed by AstraZeneca.

theconversation.com/covid-v...

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I’ve just been enrolled on to a further PHE study about this as a result of having to have two different vaccines due to anaphylaxis to the Pfizer. I also had anaphylaxis with the AZ at the start of June - complete mystery as to how or why at the moment, and we think I’m the only known case so far - but the study is to look at long term immunity over the course of 2 years. It’s been very creatively named ‘The Mix and Match Study’ 👀🤣 Seeing as I’ve been told I can’t have any further covid vaccinations, and I’m going to be immunosuppressed again fairly soon, it’ll be very interesting to see what the outcome is with regard to my antibody levels over time. I was significantly immunosuppressed when I had the pfizer vaccine, too.

[CDPO16]

Use of this may be limited due to storage requirements for the Pfizer vaccine. I had home visits for my vaccines so was given the AZ vaccine. My husband attended a vaccination centre in town where they only had facilities for storing the AZ vaccine.