- The Kenya Technical Advisory Committee will be meeting next week to discuss whether to start the issuance of Covid-19 booster doses.
- Should the committee agree on the booster, chances are that Kenyans might now be given a different vaccine from the one they initially got.
Image: REUTERS
The Kenya Technical Advisory Committee will be meeting next week to discuss, among other issues, whether to start the issuance of Covid-19 booster doses.
The committee will also decide on whether to embrace the Covid-19 vaccines mix and match schedule after the World Health Organisation issued interim recommendations on the same.
Should the committee agree on the booster, chances are that Kenyans might now be given a different vaccine from the one they initially got.
“What that committee is going to look at is, number one, should we have booster doses and the way we will be going around mixing. The main issue of mixing of vaccines, from the programme perspective,” Dr Richard Ayah said.
Dr Ayah is a veteran public health expert and a member of the National Taskforce on Covid-19 Vaccine Deployment.
The WHO has issued interim recommendations allowing for Covid-19 vaccines mix and match from different manufacturers for both the second dose and booster shots.
The global health agency on Thursday however noted that such a schedule should be applied based on supply projections, accessibility and the benefits and risks of the vaccines being used.
Interim guidelines allow countries to administer mRNA vaccines such as Pfizer and as subsequent doses after initial doses of AstraZeneca's vectored vaccine and vice versa.
“It is much better if it is done from the programme perspective, if the committee thinks there should be booster doses," Ayah said.
"Then it looks like the vaccine should be mixed. You don’t get the same vaccine you got for the first two doses.”
The WHO said the decision was arrived at on the basis of the advice issued by the Strategic Advisory Group of Experts on immunisation at its meeting on December 7 and is subject to review as more data becomes available.
“A common reason for considering heterologous Covid-19 vaccine schedules is lack of availability of the same vaccine product in settings with limited or unpredictable supply," the WHO said in a statement.
It continued: "Interchangeability of vaccine products would therefore allow for added programmatic flexibility.”
The WHO also said that AZ and any of the mRNA vaccines can also be used after initial doses of Sinopharm's inactivated vaccine.
Inactivated vaccines take the SARS-CoV-2 virus and inactivate or kill it using chemicals, heat or radiation.
The WHO advised against mixing of Covid-19 vaccines as there is no scientific evidence to support the same, terming it ‘chaotic’.
They added that the final decision on mix and match should be left to health experts as safety and efficacy of a "mixed-dose" vaccination series hasn't been established.
Some countries had already decided to give different second doses in the wake of vaccine shortages and supply chain challenges, especially for AstraZeneca.
Despite having been hit by supply chain challenges at the early stages of vaccination, the Health ministry had maintained that the decision to mix and match can only be adopted based on scientific evidence from experts.
“Data is emerging but then this is still work in the pipeline. In some countries like Spain and Germany, those who received their first dose of Pfizer vaccine or AstraZeneca have gotten the reverse,” Health director general Dr Patrick Amoth said.
“Data will emerge from that particular platform to be able to advise us and that is why it is also important for us to be able to get other vaccines so that we can to try on those in our own local setting,” he added.
An earlier study by Oxford University on mixing Pfizer and AZ vaccines had shown that receiving the two vaccines as first and second dose induced higher antibodies.
Another similar study by Saarland University in Germany had also showed a stronger immune response in patients who received AZ jab followed by Pfizer than they did in patients who had received two doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine.
“Recommendations as to the relative risks and benefits of homologous versus heterologous primary and booster doses will be reviewed as additional data become available,” WHO said.