While the effectiveness or impact of mixing COVID-19 vaccines is still a subject of global research, Dr VK Paul, health member of Niti Aayog, today said that the government's protocol is clear that both doses given should be of the same vaccine. Mr Paul's statement comes after a shocking incident that took place in Uttar Pradesh where 20 villagers were given mixed shots of COVID-19 vaccine.
Mr Paul said the matter should be investigated but also he clarified that rven if this has happened it should not be a cause of concern.
As of now in India, there have been no scientific researches or experiments done by mixing the covid vaccines Covaxin and Covishield.
For the unititiated, a group of villagers in Uttar Pradesh's Siddharthnagar district was given mixed doses of vaccines at a government hospital. As per a news report, around 20 villagers in the district near the border with Nepal were given both Covaxin and Covishield. However, after the incident no one has faced any adverse health effects and the officials said that those responsible will be punished.
Siddharthnagar is a large rural district which is nearly 270 kms away from capital city Lucknow where the shocking incident took place. The villagers were injected with Covishield in the first week of April and then given Covaxin as their second dose on May 14.
Sandeep Chaudhary, Chief Medical Officer of Siddharthnagar, "This is definitely an oversight. There are no instructions from the government to administer a cocktail of vaccines. So it is an oversight. We had ordered an enquiry and have got the report. I have asked for an explanation from those who are guilty. We will take whatever action is possible."
"Our teams have spoken to everyone and have met all those who were mistakenly administered the second dose. They are all healthy and not facing any problems," Mr Chaudhary said.
One of the largest and populous states in India, the pace of vaccination is comparitively low in Uttar Pradesh. While the state has administered 1.75 crore vaccine doses in three months, the number of fully-vaccinated people in the state is just 33 lakhs, 1.8 per cent of UP's massive 23 crore-plus population.
