Professor Graham Le Gros says there's no reason why New Zealanders shouldn't have a mix of the Pfizer and Astra Zeneca Covid vaccines. Photo / Mark Mitchell
Professor Graham Le Gros says there's no reason why New Zealanders shouldn't have a mix of the Pfizer and Astra Zeneca Covid vaccines. Photo / Mark Mitchell
Roll up your sleeves - experts are warning of the benefits of having two different Covid vaccines with one saying it is more important to get one in your arm than wait for a specific brand.
Malaghan Institute CEO Professor Graham Le Gros claims there are benefits to the immune system of having a mix of vaccines, also sighting an overseas study that found having the Pfizer vaccine followed by the AstraZeneca one offered as good as protection or better than having a double shot of the same brand. iframe src="https://www.google.com/maps/d/embed?mid=10BrIKrnoL282cFx77EvyRJU-giWSemzs" width="100%" height="480">
But Immunisation Advisory Centre director Dr Nikki Turner said the two Pfizer vaccines currently offered in New Zealand provided great protection and believed using a different brand could be an option for the third booster shot if research found it lasted longer.
Le Gros told Newstalk ZB that AstraZeneca could be the solution the Government is looking for if it struggled to get enough vaccine in to maintain its high vaccination rates.
He said the risk of a vaccine was nothing compared to the risk of this particular virus infection which could kill a lot of people in New Zealand and he actually believed it was "really good" to mix up vaccines.
"It focuses the immune response against the part you want to make it a response against which is the spike protein. So by doing a Pfizer followed by an AstraZeneca you actually really get the message to target what it needs to target and not other parts of the vaccine."
The AstraZeneca vaccine has been somewhat controversial in Australia where it is using both, but Le Gros claimed any negative response linked to it such as it triggering blood clots was "so rare" and there were more issues linked with the contraceptive pill.
"If we are going to throw the book at this damn virus, we need all the things in our armoury and the Government needs to get the AstraZeneca here as well."
But Turner believed New Zealand should stay the course and continue to give out the two Pfizer shots if supplies permitted because it provided good immunity and the roll-out was well under way.
The AstraZeneca vaccine could be an option for the second shot - but only if for some reason the Government couldn't access enough Pfizer.
Turner instead felt the time to look at using a brand other than the Pfizer vaccine would be when the third booster shot was needed possibly from next year.
Because both Pfizer or a mix of the two vaccines offered good immunity, she said the key question was whether a mixed schedule could give a longer lasting vaccine or not and she expected further research to come out on what the best mixture of a vaccine could look like.
Turner warned there had only be one study done that showed having mixed schedule of an AstraZeneca and a Pfizer was just as good as two Pfizer vaccines, it had not proven it was better.
Turner said people with compromised immune systems were the ones most likely to need a booster sooner, but both experts agreed it was likely boosters would be needed at some point in the future.
Speaking with Newstalk ZB's Mike Hosking this morning, Associate Minister of Health Ayesha Verrall agreed a mix of vaccines provided better immunity and had asked the Government to look at that.
"We have a portfolio that includes AstraZeneca. So we do have that option should we need to use it in combination with Pfizer after the two-dose series that everyone's got."
In December last year, the Government confirmed that along with the Pfizer vaccine, it had three other pre-purchase agreements for the AstraZeneca, Novavax and Janssen shots.
