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Switching between first and second vaccination dose: The WHO considers the data situation to be inadequate
Photo: Fabian Strauch / picture alliance / dpa
The World Health Organization (WHO) will not recommend switching vaccines between the first and second dose for the time being.
There is not enough data so far to say whether this can be done or not, WHO spokeswoman Margaret Harris said in Geneva on Friday.
The Standing Vaccination Commission (Stiko) had previously announced that it considered cross-vaccination with AstraZeneca and another vaccine to be harmless.
Harris recalled that this was the position of the Advisory Board (Sage) when it published its recommendations on Astrazeneca's vaccine in February.
At that time, however, the experts also called for specific studies on the possibility of cross-vaccination.
The question arose after the federal government restricted the use of the vaccine from the manufacturer AstraZeneca.
Last week, the Stiko recommended that the vaccine only be used in people over 60 years of age, as some cases of so-called sinus vein thrombosis had occurred in younger people.
The federal government followed the recommendation.
For those under 60 who have already received the first vaccination with the AstraZeneca vaccine, the question now arises of how to proceed with the second dose.
Researchers have long been testing whether corona vaccines can possibly be combined with one another - and still provide full protection, or possibly an even better one.
However, the WHO apparently does not consider the data to be extensive enough to make such a recommendation.
Just one dose with the AstraZeneca vaccine will not provide full protection.
However, because all vaccines approved to date target the so-called spike protein of the coronavirus, there is hope that the second dose could increase the effects of the first.
Even if it is not the same preparation.
However, the different vaccines also use different mechanisms.
The Biontech product, for example, packs the crucial genetic information in mRNA.
AstraZeneca, on the other hand, is a vector vaccine and uses a harmless virus as a transport vehicle.
According to researchers, the mRNA vaccines can generate a strong antibody response.
Vector vaccines like the one from AstraZeneca, on the other hand, train more T cells, which kill body cells infected by the virus.
A combination vaccination could prepare both immune responses in the best possible way, so the hope.
It would also be conceivable that the vaccination protection would last longer due to the combined vaccination.
At this point in time, however, no one can say with certainty whether this is the case.
kry / AFP
