By Linda Khoo Hui Li
BANGKOK, June 6 -- Thailand is to conduct a study on the benefits of combining different COVID-19 vaccines as preliminary observation in the kingdom and studies overseas indicate a mix of vaccines triggers stronger immune responses.
Head of the Center of Excellence in Clinical Virology at the Faculty of Medicine, Chulalongkorn University Dr. Yong Poovorawan said the centre observed four cases in the kingdom of those who accidently received first dose of Sinovac and second dose of AstraZeneca, where their immune response was higher than those received two doses of Sinovac.
“For the fifth case who received first dose of AstraZeneca and second dose of Sinovac, the immune response was higher than average, a month later,” Dr Yong said in his Facebook posting today.
Dr Yong said the centre is seeking funding from the National Research Office to launch a research on combining the two vaccines.
He said if the proposed research passed the scrutiny of the research and ethical committee, it would proceed with human trials.
Dr Yong however said that the COVID-19 vaccine mix for for national vaccination programme is not recommended at present as all the vaccines intended for emergency use only.
International weekly journal of science, Nature published an article on May that a study conducted in Spain where people vaccinated with Oxford–AstraZeneca and Pfizer–BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine combination produced a potent immune response against the virus SARS-CoV-2.
Meanwhile, Thailand recorded 2,617 new COVID-19 cases and 23 deaths over the last 24 hours, bringing the total infections in the kingdom to 177,467 and 1,236 fatalities to date.
Centre for COVID-19 Situation Administration (CCSA) spokesman Dr Taweesin Visanuyothin said the new cases include 2,588 local transmissions of which 889 through active case detection and 604 in prisons.
He said a total of 89 imported cases reported including 76 Thais who returned from Cambodia by making illegal border crossing between May 28 and June 3.
He said new fatalities involved 12 men and 11 women aged between 32 and 79 years old including 13 in Bangkok and Samut Prakan (four).
-- BERNAMA
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