NEW DELHI: Dr V K Paul, Member, NITI Aayog, said during a press conference that permission for mixing Covaxin and Covishield for research purposes has been given to Christian Medical College, Vellore. The Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) has approved this proposal from CMC Vellore for mixed use of Covaxin and Covishield in people.
The recommendation to conduct this study was given by a Subject Expert Committee of the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO). Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has also conducted a similar study and said that mixing of the two COVID-19 vaccines can give better results and immunogenicity results.
The ICMR study was conducted on individuals from Uttar Pradesh who were administered a dose of Covishield, followed by Covaxin as the second dose with an interval of six weeks. Total 18 participants were part of the study, out of which 11 were males and seven were females with a median age of 62 years.