And what if the solution to fight against Covid variant was mixing vaccines of different technologies? This is what a study issued this past July 26 in Nature carried out by the Oxford University states, explaining people receiving a first dose of AstraZeneca, then a second dose of Pfizer or Moderna is likely to develop stronger immunity to the virus.
A study issued from AstraZeneca vaccine’s streak of bad luck involving the possibility to develop severe thromboses in some cases: some countries, such as France, faced with this situation, reoriented people already given their primary doses of the UK vaccine to one of the mRNA vaccines. From this situation came out several observations showing superior efficacity of both doses, between 70 and 97%.
What was this study about? It compared people only vaccinated with two doses of AstraZeneca and people given one dose of AstraZeneca and another from a mRNA vaccine. And results are clear: a 60% surfeit in immunity for the second scenario, and superior immunity, three times bigger, in the case the second injection involves the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine.
An outcome already reached this past May by multiple searchers in a study released in The Lancet. To draw from this conclusion that the vaccinal strategy needs to be revised? “Not immediately since what matters at the moment is first-vaccination and we need to go quick”, Pr. Jean-Daniel Lelièvre – head doctor in the infectious disease unit at the Créteil Hôpital Henri-Mondor – told our peers from Ouest France. He goes on: “the longest run, assuming there will be a 3rd dose, it could be interesting to use a different vaccine”. An option the European Medicines Agency and the Haute Autorité de Santé might have to examine if need be.
