Two new reports spotlight COVID-19, with one tapping into vaccine reactions and the second looking at novel virus detection.
More frequent mild-to-moderate reactions typically result after a mixed COVID-19 vaccine schedule compared with standard schedules, according to a University of Oxford-led Com-COV study.
In the study, the interval between the first vaccine dose and second vaccine dose was four weeks, and mixed schedules included Pfizer-BioNTech followed by Oxford-AstraZeneca and Oxford-AstraZeneca followed by Pfizer-BioNTech. Reactions more often followed the second dose in a mixed schedule than in a standard, non-mixed schedule. Adverse reactions were short-lived, and there were no other safety concerns, according to researchers.
At this point, the effect of mixed schedules on immunogenicity remains unknown, although data from this same study are expected to address the issue at a later date.
Read about this study here.
Meanwhile, in a second study, out of UC Santa Cruz, a unique, ultrasensitive, chip-based antigen test recently was introduced to detect and identify both SARS-cov-2 and influenza A, the viruses that cause COVID-19 and flu, respectively.
This ultrasensitive technique, which relies on a nasal swab sample, eventually could be developed as a molecular diagnostic tool for point-of-care use, researchers said.
They reported their findings in a paper published May 4 in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
