Is It Safe To Mix And Match Covid
A study on mixing with different boosters for all three COVID-19 vaccines found no safety concerns and that the mixed boosters elicited a strong antibody response. According to booster data on primary series and booster choice the CDC is collecting, over 2 million Americans so far have opted for a different vaccine brand as a booster.
There isn’t a lot of data on mixing COVID-19 vaccines in the US because it hasn’t been allowed until recently. Information from outside the US has been promising, though, as other countries have been officially allowing people receive two different vaccines, including Germany, Canada, Sweden, France, Spain and Italy.
In a study published in the journal Nature, researchers in Spain found that people who received one dose of AstraZeneca and then received a dose of Pfizer seem to produce a higher antibody response than people who receive two doses of AstraZeneca. It isn’t clear whether this group had a higher immune response than people who received two doses of Pfizer.
Vaccine Safety & Side Effects
Check out Immunize Alberta for Common Questions about Vaccine Safety.
Q: What goes into making sure vaccines, including the COVID-19 vaccines, are safe and effective?
A: Canada is recognized around the world for high standards for vaccine review, approvals, and monitoring systems. Only vaccines that are safe and effective will be approved for use in Canada. After a vaccine is approved for use, evidence on safety and effectiveness is reviewed by the National Advisory Committee on Immunization who provide recommendations on immunizations for individuals and for public health programs.
Q: Have there been any adverse events following immunization with the COVID-19 vaccine?
A: Health Canada, the Public Health Agency of Canada , the provinces and territories, and manufacturers continue to closely monitor the safety of COVID-19 vaccines and respond to any safety issues that arise.
Provincially the Government of Alberta has the most up-to-date figures on adverse events following immunization with the COVID-19 vaccine. A weekly report on side effects following COVID-19 vaccination in Canada, is available from the Government of Canada.
The benefits of vaccines authorized in Canada continue to outweigh the risks. All eligible Albertans born in 2009 or before are encouraged to get immunized as soon as possible.
Q: I am experiencing side-effects from the COVID-19 vaccine, what do I do?
Q: What should I know about myocarditis and pericarditis following COVID-19 vaccinationes?
If Youve Already Had Covid
If you or your child had COVID-19covid 19, you should still get the vaccine. It will help protect you from getting sick again and from the more contagious Delta variants.
If you are recovering from COVID-19covid 19, you should wait to get the vaccine until you:
- have no symptoms
- are no longer in self-isolation
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Waiting Longer Might Be Even Better
Many vaccines confer improved protection with longer gaps between doses, and preliminary data suggests this seems to be the case with Pfizer too.
One pre-print study, yet to be peer reviewed, suggests waiting 11-12 weeks for the second Pfizer dose actually produces an even more potent antibody response in people over 80.
The levels of antibodies in people who waited 12 weeks for their second dose were 3.5 times higher than those whose gap was three weeks.
When To Get Your Second Dose
The standard gap between doses is now 3 weeks or more.
In August we extended the standard gap between first and second doses of the Pfizer vaccine from 3 to 6 weeks. This allowed us to give 1 dose to a larger number of people faster.
A shorter time between the 2 doses is recommended in some cases for example, when people are at higher risk of contracting COVID-19, or have a specific clinical treatment plan.
Since then, the Delta outbreak has increased the risk of contracting COVID-19 for everyone in New Zealand, no matter where you are in the country.
Because of this increased risk, we are now advising all New Zealanders to consider a shorter gap of 3 weeks between their 2 doses, instead of the standard 6 weeks. Reducing this gap means more people can be fully vaccinated sooner, increasing our community immunity.
The minimum gap between doses will continue to be 21 days.
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Third Doses For Those Who Are At The Highest Risk
We are offering third doses of COVID-19covid 19 vaccines to select vulnerable populations.
You may be able to get a third dose 8 weeks after your second dose if you are:
- a transplant recipient
- receiving stable, active treatment for a malignant hematologic disorder
- receiving an anti-CD20 agent
Your health care provider will contact you.
You may be able to get a third dose 6 months after your second dose if you are:
- living in a high-risk congregate setting, such as a long-term care home, high-risk retirement home or First Nations elder care lodge
Public health units will work with the homes to give you your shot within your home or at a mobile clinic.
Why Are Scientists Worried About It
The variant has more than 30 mutations on its spike protein the key used by the virus to unlock our bodys cells more than double the number carried . Such a dramatic change has raised concerns that the antibodies from previous infections or vaccination may no longer be well matched. Purely based on knowing the list of mutations, scientists anticipate that the virus will be more likely to infect or reinfect people who have immunity to earlier variants.
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Who Can Get A Covid Booster Jab
The Covid-19 booster was initially offered to all over-50s, clinically extremely vulnerable individuals and frontline healthcare staff.
This was the same broad criteria covered by groups one to nine of the Covid-19 vaccine priority list drawn up by the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation last September, as below:
The roll-out has also now been extended to over-40s. You must wait six months after your second jab to receive your booster..
You Can Wait Longer Than Three Weeks
The Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation recommends a minimum of three weeks between the first and second Pfizer dose. However it says this gap can be extended to up to six weeks.
The minimum time to establish immune memory following first exposure to a new vaccine is roughly three weeks. This is the minimum time, but waiting longer between the first and second jab is absolutely fine in terms of efficacy.
This makes sense based on what immunology experts understand about our immune response to vaccines.
At this stage, some of these become memory immune cells, and by about the third week they have established immune memory. This means these virus-recognising cells are on hand to rapidly respond if we are exposed again.
If that exposure is via a second immunisation, this will boost the immune response to the vaccine and increase immune memory, which in turn enhances protection against the virus.
Read more:How long do COVID vaccines take to start working?
The secondary immune response is faster and bigger because you have a pool of memory immune cells primed and ready to jump into action. The memory response is also faster, so by two weeks after the second jab, protection has significantly increased.
Youre not fully protected against COVID until about seven to 14 days after the second Pfizer dose.
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What You Need To Know
- If you receive a Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna COVID-19 vaccine, you will need 2 shots to get the most protection.
- COVID-19 vaccines are not interchangeable. If you received a Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna COVID-19 vaccine, you should get the same product for your second shot.
- You should get your second shot even if you have side effects after the first shot, unless a vaccination provider or your doctor tells you not to get it.
- If you have a weakened immune system due to other diseases or medications, you can receive a COVID-19 vaccine if you have not had a severe or immediate allergic reaction to any of the ingredients in the vaccine.
- People with moderately to severely compromised immune systems should receive an additional dose of mRNA COVID-19 vaccine after the initial 2 doses.
Why Getting The Second Shot Is Important
The second shot of the two-dose vaccines is essential for reaching full immunity against COVID-19. For instance, studies shared by the CDC showed a single dose of the Pfizer vaccine ranged from 60% to 80% effective against COVID-19. But those studies also showed both doses were 90% effective against COVID-19 with an even higher rate of effectiveness against serious cases of COVID-19.
That full immunity is extremely important for both protecting each person and protecting our communities against the spread of the virus, says Dr. Khabbaza. Besides helping us reach that important herd immunity status, the vaccines have proven very effective against the mutations and variants weve seen so far, he says.
The delta variant is getting a lot of our attention now and if youre fully vaccinated meaning both doses of a two-shot vaccine you have very little to worry about, he adds. And its important to be fully vaccinated to protect yourself against potential future variants.
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How Soon Can I Travel After Having Both Covid Vaccines
Travel is back on the cards to a limited number of destinations on the green list, but what about for those who are double-vaccinated? As of early-August 2021, over 70 per cent of the UK adult population have been given both doses of a Covid vaccine, and are waiting to see what this could mean for their next trip. Heres what we know so far.
When Do You Receive Your Second Shot After Getting Your First One
- The second Pfizer-BioNTech dose should be given 21 days after your first dose
- The second Moderna vaccine dose should be given 28 days later
According to the CDC, second shots should be administered as close to the recommended interval as possible, but can be given up to 42 days after the first dose, if necessary.
Though the CDC says second doses should not be administered earlier than the recommended interval, those given “within a grace period of 4 days earlier than the recommended date for the second dose are still considered valid.”
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Do You Need Both Doses
Yes, experts say.
“The Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccine and Moderna COVID-19 Vaccine both need 2 shots in order to get the most protection,” the CDC states.
A new CDC study reported that a single dose of Pfizer’s or Moderna’s COVID vaccine was 80% effective in preventing infections. But that number jumped to 90% two weeks after the second dose, the study on vaccinated health care workers showed.
“I would really encourage you to go back and get your second shot, and that would be true for Moderna, that would be true for Pfizer,” Chicago Department of Public Health Commissioner Dr. Allison Arwady said last week. “Because, you know, in the trials you do have some protection, that’s correct. After that first dose in the trials, it was about 50% protection. There’s been some work afterwards and, yes, it could be somewhat higher, but to get to that, you know, 90-95% protection level, you do need both doses.”
In addition, researchers at Northwestern Universitys Institute for Policy Research say a new study has indicated that one dose of two-dose COVID-19 vaccines does not provide sufficient protection against the virus in individuals who had previously had mild or asymptomatic cases of the disease, meaning that those individuals are still advised to get both doses of the vaccine.
Combination Vaccines And Fda Licensure
Only combination vaccines licensed by FDA should be used . Vaccination providers should not combine separate vaccines into the same syringe to administer together unless mixing is indicated for the patients age and is explicitly specified on the FDA-approved product label inserts. Only 2 combination vaccines, contain separate antigen components for which FDA approves mixing by the user. The safety, immunogenicity, and effectiveness of unlicensed combinations are unknown.
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How Do These Vaccines Work
The Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines both use mRNA technology. The cells in your body naturally use mRNA all the time to create many different types of proteins that you need to stay healthy.
The mRNA in the two-dose COVID-19 vaccines provide the cells of your body with instructions on how to make the spike protein thats specific to the new coronavirus. This spike protein is found on the surface of the virus. It uses this spike protein to attach to and enter a host cell in your body.
When you get your COVID-19 vaccine, your immune system processes information on the spike protein and generates an immune response to it. This includes the production of antibodies.
Vaccines hinge on a very important aspect of your immune system, which is the fact that it has memory. After your vaccination, your immune system continues to store information on the spike protein.
If youre exposed to the new coronavirus, your immune system will then use this stored information to respond and protect you from the virus. This can help prevent you from becoming sick with COVID-19.
The entire immunity process typically takes around 2 weeks after the second dose of vaccine. Thats why you can still contract the new coronavirus and become ill if youre exposed to it shortly after getting your vaccine.
relatively weak immune response when given as just one dose. However, there was a stronger immune response when a second dose was added.
Why do you need this waiting period?
Why Have Some Countries Reduced Wait Times
As the highly contagious Delta variant takes hold in many parts of the world, including the UK, health authorities have decided to reduce the interval between AstraZeneca vaccines from 12 weeks to eight weeks for people aged 40 and above.
“The Delta variant has changed the environment for vaccines in the UK We now know that two doses of vaccine are very much better than one dose for protection against infection with the Delta variant,”UK deputy chief medical officer Jonathan Van-Tam said.
Clinical epidemiologist Terry Nolan said the emergence of the Delta variant and the sheer number of COVID-19 cases in the UK meant they urgently needed to get as many people fully vaccinated as possible.
“Their concern was that the Delta variant was much more transmissible and possibly more severe and more likely to result in hospitalisation,” said Professor Nolan of The Doherty Institute.
“They wanted to bring forward the protection because their numbers were starting to increase again.”
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Should We Have Waited Longer Between Covid
When the Pfizer and Moderna COVID-19vaccines first became available in December 2020, there was a strict dosing schedule recommended for the inoculations.
People who got the Pfizer shot were advised to wait 21 days before getting dose two, and those who got Moderna waited 28 days. For the most part, people in the United States adhered to this schedule, but in areas where supply was tight, people had to wait a few extra weeks before they could access a second dose.
In the United Kingdom and Canada, for example, limited supply meant that people often had to wait anywhere from eight to 12 weeks for their second dose. Many individuals in this situation were understandably concerned about how delaying the second dose would ultimately impact their protection but data would eventually show that extending the waiting period for the second dose was not a problem, and was actually beneficial.
Theres a lot of evidence now that spacing out the vaccines was a good idea to begin with, Monica Gandhi, an infectious diseases specialist with the University of California, San Francisco, told HuffPost.
Pharmacy Or Primary Care Provider
You are encouraged to contact the pharmacy or primary care provider where you received your first dose. You may also find a different participating pharmacy to book an appointment, when you are eligible.
Primary care settings and pharmacies may also be reaching out to eligible Ontarians to accelerate appointments for second doses.
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Can You Mix Up Which Vaccine You Get For Each Dose
According to CNBC, governments have differing answers to this question but some health experts say that the mixing and matching of the vaccines should be safe. Clinical trials are ongoing on the subject, however.
Arwady said earlier this month that she wouldn’t recommend it.
“You get one, you do not need to get Moderna and Pfizer or Pfizer and J& J,” she said. “You just need one vaccine but to finish the series of that vaccine… what would be probably recommended, it would be more like if we were really at a point where we had concerns about a new variant, there would probably be a completely separate booster that would be recommended. I don’t think this is something that’s going to happen very soon if we’re not talking in a few months, we might be talking about never, but it would be more my presumption there would be more, like, I got the Pfizer vaccine and Pfizer a year from now is making a sort of a booster dose that is against a newer variant. That’s how I think it’s more likely that it might happen… right now, no please do not try to get multiple doses of different manufacturers. We do keep track of everybody’s vaccine records, and it’s not needed and it’s not recommended.”