China Approves First Mixed-Vaccine Trial 

China Approves First Mixed-Vaccine Trial 

Part of: GS Prelims and GS – II – International relations; Health 

In news China’s drug regulator has approved the country’s first mixed-vaccine trial as the rapid spread of the Delta variant raises concern about the efficacy of domestically produced jabs.

• The trial will test the efficacy of combining an “inactivated” vaccine made by China’s Sinovac with a DNA-based one developed by U.S. pharmaceutical company Inovio. 
• Preclinical work has found that “two different vaccine applications produce an even stronger and more balanced immune response. 

Do you know? 

• There are several types of COVID-19 vaccines, including those using an inactivated or weakened virus to generate an immune response, and RNA- or DNA-based vaccines that use engineered versions of the coronavirus’ genetic code to create a protein that safely prompts an immune response.
• The World Health Organization has said there is still not enough data to say whether using two different vaccines together is safe or can boost immunity.

Read Approaches to Vaccine Making for more understanding the science part of Vaccines