DOH mulls mix-matching COVID vaccines due to availability issue

Given the limited availability of COVID-19 vaccine doses, the Department of Health (DOH) is looking into the effects of injecting a patient with a second vaccine dose that was different from the first dose, Health undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said Saturday.

According to a report on “24 Oras Weekend,” the DOH coordinated with the Department of Science and Technology and the Vaccine Expert Panel in the vaccine mixing study.

“Nakakita sila ng isang bansa na nag-aaral na nitong mixing and matching of vaccines and that would be in UK,” Health undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said Saturday.

(They found a country that is studying the mixing and matching of vaccines and that would be in the UK.)

“Pero ‘yung kanilang ginagawa ay wala pa pong resulta so kailangan din nating antayin so that we can get additional evidence,” she added.

(But what they’re doing has not yielded results so we need to wait to get additional evidence.)

Meanwhile, Vergeire said the studies conducted by the Vaccine Expert Panel have found a theoretical basis.

“But this is theoretical, so kailangan pa po nating susugan ng iba pang impormasyon at ebidensya,” she said.

(But this is theoretical, so we need to wait for further information and evidence.)

— Joahna Lei Casilao/DVM, GMA News