Aga Khan University to Hold ‘Mix and Match’ COVID-19 Vaccine Trials

The Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) has signed an agreement with a consortium led by the Aga Khan University (AKU) for holding the clinical trials of ‘mixing and matching’ COVID-19 vaccines in Pakistan.

The Norway-based CEPI will provide up to $11.7 million funding to the AKU-led consortium for the initiative. The consortium consists of the National Institute of Health in Pakistan (NIH), the University of Oxford, the International Vaccine Institute (IVI), and Harvard Medical School (HMS).

According to details, the AKU-led consortium will be tasked with determining the safety and immunogenicity of mixing and matching combinations of three COVID-19 vaccines, AstraZeneca, Sinopharm, and CanSinoBIO, that are already being administered in the country as part of the ongoing Coronavirus vaccination campaign.

The phase-II clinical trials will be organized at established trial sites in Islamabad, Lahore, and Karachi. More than 1,600 volunteers aged 18 years or above will take part in the trials.

The participants will be randomly administered either the two doses of the same vaccine or a mix-and-match combination of these vaccines. They will be administered all the possible mix-and-match combinations of these vaccines during the phase-II clinical trials.

Preliminary results of the trials will be released in Q1 of 2022, which will be shared with relevant policymakers and regulatory authorities to revise recommendations on the use of mix-and-match COVID-19 vaccines.

All participants will also be followed up for two years after the completion of the trials to assess the long-term immune response of the mixed and matched vaccines.



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