[Image by Sam Moqadam on Unsplash]
The mRNA vaccines from Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna appear to work well as a second dose in recipients of a single dose of the AstraZeneca AZD1222 vaccine.A report in Lancet found that two doses of AstraZeneca’s AZD1222 vaccine were 50% effective. Recipients who received a dose of the AZD1222 vaccine followed by a dose of Moderna’s mRNA-1273 vaccine had adjusted vaccine effectiveness of 79%. Those who received an initial dose of AZD1222 followed by the Pfizer-BioNTech BNT162b2 vaccine saw vaccine effectiveness of 67%.
The report authors stopped short of claiming that a heterologous AZD1222 and mRNA prime-boost vaccination strategy is superior, concluding that it “may be an effective alternative to increase population immunity against COVID-19.”
“These results could have important implications for vaccination strategies and consequently in the battle against the…