ANS: Chief Scientist of the World Health Organization cautioned against COVID-19 vaccinations mixed and matched with people from various manufacturers, describing them as “hazardous trends” since there was little data available about the health impact.
“It’s a little bit of a dangerous trend here. We are in a data-free, evidence-free zone as far as mix and match,” told Soumya Swaminathan during an online briefing on Monday.
“There is limited data on mix and match. Studies are underway, we must wait for it. Perhaps a really good strategy is going to be,” she said.
“At present, however, the data on the vaccination Oxford-AstraZeneca and Pfizer are available only. In countries it will be a chaotic situation if residents begin to decide when and who will take a second, third and fourth dose,” warned Soumya.
She also said that there is no scientific evidence that a booster shot is definitely needed, especially immediately after the inoculation of the two doses.
Notably, most of the vaccines that are now in use, including Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna, Oxford-AstraZeneca University, Bharat Biotech and the Russian Sputnik V, must be taken in two doses at the specified intervals between each of the vaccines.
While, Sputnik V also has a “Sputnik V Lite” and a Johnson & Johnson’ vaccine is single dosage vaccines.