Theoretically, Mixing Vaccines Can Boost Immune Response - Prof. Sisira Siribaddana

Senior Professor and Chair of Medicine Sisira Siribaddana, (MBBS MD FCCP FRCP), in an interview with Daily Mirror, elaborates on efficacy of COVID-19 vaccines to gain herd immunity. He presently serves at the Medical Faculty of Rajarata University. Also, he is a board member of the National Medicines Regulatory Authority (NMRA) and an Honorary Consultant Physician. Excerpts of the interview:

- Kelum Bandara

Q What is your general assessment of the current immunisation process against COVI-19?

Immunization is the best response to the corona disease along with wearing a mask. Wearing a mask was not initially recommended by the World Health Organisation (WHO). But people had experience in wearing masks after their previous experiences with similar infections such as SARS and MERS. If there is a high risk of infection even double masking will be better.

Vaccines , administered based on the emergency user licence by World Health Organisation-WHO - Pfizer, AstraZeneca (AZ), Moderna, Johnson and Johnson (J&J) and Sinopharmcan prevent the severity of the disease in almost all. Sri Lanka uses three vaccines available at the moment: AstraZeneca, Sinopharm and Sputnik V (not given approval by the WHO). Pfizer has been approved, but it is not available for emergency use in Sri Lanka. The National Medicines Regulatory Authority (NMRA) is reviewing the Bharath Biotec vaccine produced in India. WHO is about to grant approval to Sinovac, but for Sputnik and Bharath Biotec, approval may be delayed. All these vaccines prevent severity of the disease. Research reveals vaccines can protect you from infections up to eight months theoretically, but the real-world situation again is different. Lifelong protection is anticipated.

I am yet to see a convincing academic paper about patients who died of COVID-19 after 21 days of full vaccination. However, there are worrying reports from India about death of doctors after being fully vaccinated.