Germany recommends mixing Covid vaccines, saying it gives 'significantly ...

Germany recommends mixing Covid vaccines, saying it gives 'significantly ...
Germany recommends mixing Covid vaccines, saying it gives 'significantly ...

Germany has recommended mixing Covid-19 vaccine types, saying it gives a 'significantly superior' immune response than two AstraZeneca shots.

For those that got the Oxford University-developed jab as their first dose, the country is recommending they switch to a different shot for their second.  

The aim is to increase the speed and effectiveness of vaccinations as the more contagious delta variant spreads.

Pictured: Vials of Pfizer-BioNTech, AstraZeneca, and Moderna coronavirus disease (COVID-19) vaccine (file photo). Germany has recommended mixing Covid-19 vaccine doses, saying it gives a 'significantly superior' immune response than two AstraZeneca shots

Pictured: Vials of Pfizer-BioNTech, AstraZeneca, and Moderna coronavirus disease (COVID-19) vaccine (file photo). Germany has recommended mixing Covid-19 vaccine doses, saying it gives a 'significantly superior' immune response than two AstraZeneca shots

Health Minister Jens Spahn conferred with his colleagues from Germany's 16 states on Friday, the day after the country's standing committee on vaccination issued a draft recommendation. 

In a statement, the committee said that 'according to current study results,' the immune response from a mixture of AstraZeneca with an mRNA vaccine was 'significantly superior' to that from two doses of AstraZeneca.

It recommended that the second dose with an mRNA vaccine - Germany uses those made by BioNTech-Pfizer and Moderna - be administered four weeks or more after the first AstraZeneca shot. 

That is much shorter than the nine to 12 weeks the committee recommends between two doses of AstraZeneca, which is a viral vector-based vaccine.

Pictured: Germany's Health Minister Jens Spahn. He conferred with his colleagues from Germany's 16 states on Friday, the day after the country's standing committee on vaccination issued a draft recommendation about using difference

Pictured: Germany's Health Minister Jens Spahn. He conferred with his colleagues from Germany's 16 states on Friday, the day after the country's standing committee on vaccination issued a draft recommendation about using difference 

Mixing AstraZeneca and Pfizer Covid vaccines  generates 'robust' immune response, study finds

By Mary Kekatos, Acting U.S. Health Editor for DailyMail.com and PA Media 

Mixing doses of the AstraZeneca-Oxford and Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines generates a robust immune response against COVID-19, research suggests.

The study found that using Pfizer followed by AstraZeneca or vice versa induced high concentrations of antibodies against the spike protein of the virus when doses were given four weeks apart.  

However, the Com-COV study, run by the University of Oxford, found that the order of vaccines made a difference.

AstraZeneca followed by Pfizer induced higher antibodies and T cell responses than Pfizer followed by AstraZeneca.

But both schedules induced higher antibodies than the licensed, and highly effective, standard two-dose AstraZeneca schedule.  

The findings could allow flexibility in the UK and global vaccine rollouts, allowing people to receive whatever jab is available, rather than waiting for a matching one.  

'The Com-COV study has evaluated "mix and match" combinations of the Oxford and Pfizer vaccines to see to what extent these vaccines can be used interchangeably, potentially allowing flexibility in the UK and global vaccine rollout,' said chief investigator Dr Matthew Snape, associate professor in pediatrics and vaccinology at the University of Oxford

'The results show that when given at a four-week interval both mixed schedules induce an immune response that is above the threshold set by the standard schedule of the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine.'

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The committee, known by its German acronym STIKO, didn't detail what studies its conclusion was based on. 

Germany's disease control centre noted that it was a draft, and that a final recommendation with more detail and sourcing will follow. 

Researchers have said that mixing vaccines is likely safe and effective, but are still gathering data to be sure.

German authorities already decided in April that under-60s who had received a first AstraZeneca shot should as a rule get a second shot of an mRNA vaccine. 

The decision came after the AstraZeneca vaccine was linked to extremely rare blood clots in younger people. Germany recommends that under-60s consult with a doctor before taking it.

Spahn said Friday that enough mRNA vaccine is available to implement the new recommendation quickly and that it 'makes the AstraZeneca vaccine more attractive,' with large quantities now arriving and the prospect of a much shorter wait for the second shot.

He said the head of STIKO told ministers that the combination of AstraZeneca and BioNTech 'protects as least as well as BioNTech-BioNTech as a combination, in some cases even better.' 

But he also stressed that two doses of AstraZeneca give good protection. BioNTech-Pfizer has been the mainstay of Germany's campaign, with AstraZeneca a distant second in terms of doses administered.

Germany is keen to keep upping the pace

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