COVID vaccine cocktail works, says Russia's RDIF after AstraZeneca-Sputnik V combo trial

The Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) on Friday revealed that a combination of doses of AstraZeneca-Oxford's (Covishield) vaccine and Sputnik V vaccine has shown no serious adverse events or COVID infection cases following the vaccination.

"RDIF announces initial safety results of the world’s first study of a combination between the AstraZeneca vaccine (developed jointly with the University of Oxford) and the first component of the Sputnik vaccine (Sputnik Light) in Azerbaijan," RDIF said.

"Interim analysis of the data demonstrates a high safety profile for the combined use of the vaccines with no serious adverse events or cases of coronavirus after vaccination," it added.

The RDIF has actively been pursuing the other vaccine makers to show mix and matching is effective against new COVID strains. It was the first to suggest joint mix and match trials to other vaccine producers. RDIF had urged AstraZeneca on November 23 on Twitter.

A tug of war is evidently going on in the scientific communities across the world over the COVID-19 vaccine inoculation processes. Although vaccine manufacturers across the world are divided over administering doses of different COVID-19 vaccines, Sputnik V makers have widely proposed the idea of the 'vaccine cocktail'.

With regard to India's COVID-19 vaccination, an expert panel for the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO) had given a nod on July 29 to conduct studies on mixing doses of the COVID-19 vaccines Covaxin and Covishield. The approval also includes analysis of the mixed doses of Bharat Biotech's Covaxin and a nasal vaccine candidate, as well as the trial of the Biological E's COVID-19 jabs for kids. The application for the dosage mixing regime study for India’s domestically manufactured Covishield and Covaxin was submitted to Christian Medical College (CMC), Vellore, and the expert panel has asked the CMC to perform the clinical trials for the same. 

The study aims to find the efficacy when shots for the vaccine are mixed during the two-dose regime. Hyderabad-based Bharat Biotech was also asked to conduct trials on the interchangeability of the Covaxin and the nasal vaccine candidate BBV154 to get the results related to the percentage of the efficacy. The expert committee asked Biological E to conduct the Phase II and III clinical trials on kids, making it the fourth vaccine maker after the Bharat Biotech, Zydus, and Novavax to get such approval.