Heterologous COVID-19 vaccination, colloquially referred to as "mixing and matching" vaccine doses, could generate a higher immune response than receiving two COVID-19 shots produced by the same drugmaker, NPR reported May 5.
Vaccine shortages and safety concerns have already forced some countries to try the approach, but experts told NPR heterologous vaccination can also better prepare the body to fight off COVID-19 infection.
COVID-19 vaccines work by essentially showing the body what it would look like if the coronavirus were to invade. Each drugmaker's way of simulating coronavirus infection is different, so the body could do a better job of recognizing and fighting off the virus if it has seen two different pictures of what infection could look like.
"If you give two different types of vaccine, then you tend to get a better immune response than if you give the same vaccine twice," said Helen Fletcher, PhD, a professor of immunology at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine.
Bali Pulendran, PhD, a professor of immunology and microbiology at Stanford University, said heterologous vaccination has been successfully tested for a variety of other vaccines, such as HIV, malaria, and tuberculosis.