Jon CohenScience’s COVID-19 reporting is supported by the Heising-Simons Foundation.With nine vaccines now showing they can powerfully prevent severe illness and death from COVID-19—and vaccines in short supply—researchers are mulling an issue that, even a few months ago, was only hypothetical: Should people mix and match vaccines that require two shots?If some combinations work, they may provide needed flexibility whenever production of a vaccine falters, as often happens.
And there’s even a chance that mixing doses of two different vaccines may boost the protection against COVID-19.One mixed vaccine trial is already underway: It is examining matching a dose of the Sputnik V vaccine made by Russia’s Gamaleya Research Institute of.