Reax as UK vaccine mixing study expanded

A study by Oxford University looking at the benefits of mixing doses of coronavirus vaccines is being expanded to include the Moderna and Novavax jabs.

So far the Com-Cov trial has looked at immune responses of trial participants given the AstraZeneca jab first, followed by the Pfizer-BioNTech shot, and the other way around.

If successful, mixing and matching could be a way of circumventing vaccine supply shortages and speeding up vaccination program.

Britain began offering coronavirus vaccinations to anyone over 45 on Tuesday after hitting its target of giving at least one dose to everyone over 50 by the middle of April.

But like many other countries, the UK is also receiving fewer doses than it had hoped for, partly as a result of India’s decision to stop exports of the Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine from its Serum Institute.

Britain has ordered 30 million doses of Johnson & Johnson's vaccine, though UK.regulators have not yet approved its use.

Johnson & Johnson said Tuesday it was delaying the vaccine's rollout in Europe amid a US probe into rare blood clots in some recipients.

Britain this month began use of the first of 17 million ordered doses of Moderna's vaccine, having mostly used the AstraZeneca and Pfizer-BioNTech jabs so far.

Image: AP