UK aiming to ‘mix and match’ coronavirus jabs

Trials are being planned in Britain to ‘mix and match’ vaccines to see if combining the Oxford and Pfizer jabs produces a stronger immune response.

Trials are being planned in Britain to “mix and match” vaccines to see if combining the Oxford and Pfizer jabs produces a stronger immune response.

The head of the Vaccine Task Force said that if, as expected, the Oxford-Astrazeneca vaccine were approved soon for use, studies would be conducted in the new year to see if the two could be used together.

Instead of a first shot of the Pfizer vaccine followed by a booster three weeks later, the trials will look at using Pfizer for the first shot then Oxford for the second … or vice versa.

The hope is that the two could complement each other. Kate Bingham, chairwoman of the Vaccine Task Force, said: “The idea is that you can maximise the strength of that immune response.”

The Times