By Deighton Acuin

PHOTO: I Am Expat

European trials revealed that mixing COVID-19 vaccines developed by United States pharmaceutical firm Pfizer-BioNTech and British firm AstraZeneca provided better protection than receiving complete doses from AstraZeneca alone.

Interviewed over CNN Philippines, Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Director-General Eric Domingo said studies have shown AstraZeneca as the first dose and Pfizer as second dose give better results against coronavirus.



“May mga studies sa Europa pero ang mi-nix and match nila is the antiviral vaccine which is AstraZeneca and Pfizer, isang mRNA vaccine naman. Mukhang maganda ang resulta. It shows that nagiging higher talaga ‘yung reaction sa mix and match kesa sa if you get the same two doses for example of AstraZeneca,” he said.

“Ang nakita, mas maganda kung first ‘yung AstraZeneca, second ‘yung Pfizer. Kung Pfizer ‘yung first tapos AstraZeneca ‘yung second, hindi kasing ganda ‘yung epekto. It matters kung anong bakuna at tsaka ‘yung pagkakasunod-sunod,” he added.

Domingo said there are no submitted studies yet in mixing other vaccine brands but noted that the Department of Science and Technology’s (DOST) mix and match trials are underway.

“If we’re going to make a mix and match program, we have to check each and every combination including the succession of doses,” the FDA chief said.