Vergeire: No recommendation yet for mixing of COVID-19 vaccine brands

Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire on Wednesday said their experts have no recommendation yet on the use of different brands of COVID-19 vaccine on a recipient.

Interviewed on GMA News’ Unang Hirit, Vergeire said the mixing of vaccine brands is still being studied by experts and there is no sufficient evidence to allow it so far.

“Sa ngayon, hindi pa ‘yan ang recommendation ng ating mga eksperto. Wala pang evidence to say that kapag binigyan mo ng kakaibang bakuna doon sa first dose kung ano po ‘yung mangyayari,” she said.

(As of now, that is not yet the recommendation of our experts. There is no evidence yet to say what would happen if we give a brand of vaccine different from the first dose.)

Vergeire pointed out that the experts still recommend using the same vaccine brand for the first and second dose on a recipient.

On Tuesday, Dr. Nina Gloriani said the Vaccine Expert Panel (VEP) might consider the “very practical or realistic scenario” of mixing vaccine brands amid the shortage in supply in the country.

She noted that there should be no issue from an immunological standpoint.

“‘Di ba kulang din ang ating mga supplies COVID-19? Sometimes we have to be realistic ano ‘yung next na puwede ibigay. Hindi puwedeng i-delay too long ‘yung second dose,” she said.

(Our supply is scarce, right? Sometimes we have to be realistic about what vaccine we can give. We can’t delay the second dose for too long.) — Joviland Rita/RSJ, GMA News