Mix-and-match of COVID-19 vaccine boosters found to be safe and effective

In adults who had previously received a full regimen of a COVID-19 vaccine approved or authorized by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), an additional dose of any of these COVID-19 vaccines was safe and prompted an immune response, according to study findings published Jan. 26 in The New England Journal of Medicine. The study’s preliminary data had informed the FDA’s recommendation in October to allow mix-and-match of COVID-19 vaccine boosters—that is, to administer boosters whose formulation differs from that of the primary vaccine series. The findings are from an ongoing trial conducted by members of the Infectious Diseases Clinical Research Consortium (IDCRC) and sponsored by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID). The trial began enrollment in May 2021. Its principal investigators are Drs. Robert Atmar of Baylor College of Medicine in Texas and Kirsten Lyke of the University of Maryland School of Medicine. The report describes findings from 458...