Coronavirus Vaccine
'Significant adverse effects' unlikely : Centre says after vaccine doses mixed in UP and Maharashtra
New Delhi/IBNS: After over a dozen villagers in an Uttar Pradesh village were given a different coronavirus vaccine from their first dose, the Centre has said "significant adverse effects" are unlikely but also called it an oversight as no instruction to administer a cocktail of vaccines was given.
"This should be looked into. We will have to wait for more scientific understanding... but even if two doses of two different vaccines are given, this should not be a cause of concern," said Dr VK Paul, the Chair of NEGVAC (National Expert Group on Vaccine Administration for COVID-19), according to an NDTV report.
His response came on Thursday afternoon following a controversy that erupted after twenty villagers in Uttar Pradesh's Siddharthnagar district were given Bharat Biotech's Covaxin instead of Serum Institute of India (SII)-manufactured Covishield.
The incident took place 270 km from state capital Lucknow on May 14.
"This is definitely an oversight. There are no instructions from the government to administer a cocktail of vaccines. So it is an oversight. We had ordered an enquiry and have got the report. I have asked for an explanation from those who are guilty. We will take whatever action is possible," said Sandeep Chaudhary, Chief Medical Officer of Siddharthnagar, NDTV had reported.
"Any significant adverse effect is unlikely... but we need more scrutiny," Dr VK Paul added, reacting to the incident.
A 72-year-old Maharashtra man--Dattatraya Waghmare--was also administered mixed doses; said he got Covaxin on March 22 and Covishield on April 30.
Apart from mild fever and rashes in some parts of the body, Waghmare showed no other aftereffects, his son said.
Two weeks ago, a study on the preliminary effects of mixed doses of vaccine was published in Lancet.
The participants, who were given shots of Covishield and Pfizer as the first and the second doses, respectively, reported more short-lived side effects - most mild - Oxford University researchers reported.
However, the study is yet to show if the cocktail of vaccines is effective against Covid-19.
Last week, a study in Spain showed that such mixing, in the same order, proved safe and effective.
There are still concerns that mixing vaccines would have side effects and defend against coronavirus infection.
However, the mix-up in Uttar Pradesh was not a part of any study and the recipients said that the health care workers did not check their previous records, NDTV reported
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