The Chandigarh health department, Punjab government, and the Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER) will jointly conduct a new study on Covid-19 vaccines, it was said on Wednesday. The project has also been approved by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR).
This will be the first study in India in which immunologic response, tolerability, and side effects of Covishield and Covaxin will be studied when both vaccines are given in combination as the first and second dose.
A total of 1,028 healthy unvaccinated volunteers who have not taken any Covid vaccine, will be considered for participation in this study. Some of the volunteers will be given Covishield as the first dose and Covaxin as the second dose and vice versa. The result of the combination will be compared with findings in volunteers getting the same vaccine as the first and second doses.
Volunteers will be inoculated at PGI and BR Ambedkar Institute of Medical Sciences, Mohali.
Prof Madhu Gupta, Department of Community Medicine and School of Public Health, PGI, Principal Investigator for the clinical trials of the Oxford Covid-19 vaccine at the institute, will also be the principal investigator of this project.
“Many studies abroad show that mixing vaccines leads to a better antibody production. I wrote this project a year back and it has been approved by the ICMR and the Drug Controller General of India. We have received funding from the ICMR and many departments of PGI, including internal medicine, will be part of this project, apart from the Punjab government, and the health department of Chandigarh. If you establish evidence, you can get many advantages, as there are many people who haven’t yet taken both doses of the Covid vaccine. And we have not stopped the vaccination drives in the country. I urge people who have not been vaccinated to come forward and contribute new evidence. We want to follow the volunteers for a year and study the antibody response and cell-mediated immunity. Both vaccines are safe, and this will be an opportunity for us to take our research further. We will be recruiting volunteers in December end or January beginning,” said Prof Gupta.
During the study, volunteers will be monitored by a team of medical experts. The study protocol has already been approved by the Centre (DCGI) and Ethics committee, PGl. The results may help address issues of shortage and wastage (unused before expiry) across the country along with better immune boosting response in the community.
Corbevax has already been approved by the Centre as a booster dose for Covishield and Covaxin after one such study.
Interested candidates can participate in the study and register by either calling on 7009482595, 9872130848 or sending an email pgiicmrcovid19vaccstudy@gmail.com.
