Students who took Covaxin, Sputnik V vaccines should get jabs again: US universities

US universities and colleges have asked students including from India who have been vaccinated with India’s indigenous Covaxin or the Russian-made Sputnik V are being asked to get re-vaccinated as these vaccines have not yet been approved by the World Health Organization (WHO). Over 400 US colleges and Universities have announced the students to get COVID-19 vaccinations with World WHO-approved COVID-19 vaccines.

Rukmini Callimachi reports in The New York Times that Milloni Doshi, a 25-year-old student from India, who is due to start her master's degree this fall at Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs, has been administered two doses of Covaxin. Now, Columbia has told her that she will need to be revaccinated with a different vaccine once she arrives on campus.

"I am just concerned about taking two different vaccines. They said the application process would be the toughest part of the cycle, but it's really been all of this that has been uncertain and anxiety-inducing," Doshi wrote via a messaging app.

Various measures are being proposed by the campuses, out of which the most complex scenario is if students received a Covaxin and Sputnik as these vaccines have not yet been approved by the WHO. Many colleges are proposing that those students should get re-vaccinated.

This is mainly because there is no data on whether combing vaccines from different companies is harmless. "Since Covid-19 vaccines are not interchangeable, the safety and effectiveness of receiving two different Covid-19 vaccines have not been studied," said Kristen Nordlund, spokesperson for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). ALSO READ COVID-19: All you need to know about vaccines that will hit the Indian market by year-end Norlund also advised that people vaccinated outside the US with non-WHO-approved COVID-19 vaccine should wait at least 28 days before taking the Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-sanctioned vaccines.