Mixing Vaccines

Mixing Vaccines

Andrew Chuma No Comment
General Wellness

Only 10 developed countries have monopolized 80% of the available Covid vaccines out there in the World. For poor countries, the reasons for the lack of vaccine are obviously financial but for most other countries, it’s a matter of poor anticipation of the severity of Covid or the rapidity with which it has spread and perhaps less coordinated medical infrastructure.

As a result, some countries have resorted to spreading out doses (my parents in Canada got their second dose of the Pfizer vaccine 3 months after their first dose) and now are recommending even mixing doses from different vaccines.

Although this may sound like a cop out for poor planning, there is not only some rationale for this approach, it has already been done successfully by a few countries.

In the same way we recommend those who have had Covid still get vaccinated, mixing vaccines from different companies may actually provide better coverage since you are targeting immune response from different approaches. Mixing the two types of vaccine may give the immune system multiple ways to recognize a pathogen.

Both spreading out the doses and mixing vaccines has been done in Britain with apparent success. They specifically have been mixing AstraZeneca with a dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech and the immune response has been shown to be as effective as both doses of Pfizer. 

Many countries are adopting this approach including Canada, Germany, France, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Spain and the UK. Some are using this strategy because of supply issues and some because of concerns about clotting from the J&J and AstraZeneca vaccines.

Although I think that the concerns over clotting are overblown (I wrote about the reasons for this in an earlier post), I think that any vaccine is better than no vaccine so if mixing different vaccines will get the job done, that’s great.

Some argue that the clinical studies on the Covid vaccines were done a certain way without mixing different products however, the reality is that the vast majority of medications prescribed, are done for so called “off-label” reasons. A perfect example is Augmentin (amoxicillin-clavulanate). This antibiotic was never approved for treatment of sinusitis but it is it’s most common use. The same goes for Hydroxychloroquine. It is a drug developed to treat Malaria, a parasitic infection. But it was soon realized that it also treated the inflammatory symptoms of arthritis and that is what it is now primarily used for, particularly in the US where we don’t have Malaria. The reason it may have helped some patients with Covid is for that same reason, it diminishes the body’s inflammatory response. The same goes for the antibiotic Zithromax.

In the US, we are so privileged to not only have a surplus of vaccines, but we have the luxury of choosing which one we want. We are truly spoiled and the vast majority of us do not appreciate what we have. Gratitude people!! And we have way too many misguided people choosing “to wait and see ” what happens or not get vaccinated at all, risking the known side effects of Covid. It shouldn’t be too surprising. A recent survey of British men revealed that 70% of them would rather live 10 years less than give up meat. In another survey of people facing amputation for a variety of reasons, a third of them  would rather go ahead with the amputation rather than change their lifestyle habits, like changing their diet, exercising or giving up smoking. Not too bright.

As far as opening up, it is wonderful to enjoy some of the privileges we have become accustomed to and to be able to simply hug a relative. I’m excited about seeing my parents soon. We haven’t seen each other in well over a year and a half. However, we still need to be very careful and vigilant. The variants are still out there, especially the one which has recently devastated India and is now in North America.

As the disease flourishes in other parts of the world like Brazil, new variants continue to emerge. I hate to be a pessimist, but this pandemic is not anywhere near over, including here at home. Please be careful and know your audience. If everyone is vaccinated, by all means remove your mask. If you’re outside, you can relax a bit. You don’t need to sterilize packages. I plan to still wear a mask when shopping. I plan to still try to keep some distance while waiting in lines. Sadly, people are not trustworthy and I have spoken to too many people who refuse to get vaccinated and are in denial about reality.

Get vaccinated.

Get whichever one you can.

Get whichever combination you can.

It’s all good!

Stay safe and be well.

AC ✌️🌱❤🏃🏻🧘🏻‍♂️🌎 🐖 😷(doctorchuma.com)

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