Despite the promising results of the AstraZeneca-Pfizer vaccine combination, the World Health Organization (WHO) does not recommend mixing any other types of COVID-19 vaccines, the executive secretary of the organization's Strategic Advisory Group of Experts on Immunization (SAGE), Joachim Hombach, said on Friday
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 02nd July, 2021) Despite the promising results of the AstraZeneca-Pfizer vaccine combination, the World Health Organization (WHO) does not recommend mixing any other types of COVID-19 vaccines, the executive secretary of the organization's Strategic Advisory Group of Experts on Immunization (SAGE), Joachim Hombach, said on Friday.
"What I don't think we can do is to provide a generic recommendation that you can mix and match in any way you want. This is product specific. It is important that these data are being generated. We have to see," Hombach said during a regular WHO press briefing.
The expert still acknowledged the promising results from mixing the Pfizer/BioNTech and AstraZeneca vaccines, which he said can offer more flexibility to countries which face vaccine supply constraints.
"I think this is good news that we have obtained through this data, which again adds flexibilities to countries that face supply interruptions. We have already in our position on the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine mentioned this that the combination of AstraZeneca [vaccine] followed by the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine results in very good immunogenicity data," Hombach said.
As many countries still face COVID-19 vaccine supply bottlenecks, studies have been carried out to test the possibility of mixing different types of vaccines.
The SAGE executive secretary added that more data would be needed to find out whether other combinations of COVID-19 vaccines could work.
