New WA-led clinical trial will evaluate the effectiveness of mixing COVID-19 vaccine boosters.
Vaccines are the best approach to get protection from the COVID-19 virus, and research shows that boosters are required to improve our immune response to the virus. Now, a new project led by Australia’s top infectious disease experts will investigate whether receiving different COVID-19 vaccine boosters results in an improved immune response.
The study, officially called the Platform Trial in COVID-19 Vaccine Boosting or PICOBOO, involves researchers from Telethon Kids Institute, The University of Western Australia, and Perth Children’s Hospital. The project is also asking how often vaccine boosters should be given, in order to acquire optimal protection.
PICOBOO is backed by a $4.1 million grant from the Federal Government and will be developed over a three-year period. During this time a total of 600 vaccinated adults will be enrolled from across Perth, Adelaide, and Launceston. Participants will receive a booster shot and researchers will track their immune response over time.
According to Professor Peter Richmond, head of the Vaccine Trials Group at the Wesfarmers Centre of Vaccines and Infectious Disease at Telethon Kids Institute, evidence so far suggest that using different vaccine types in the booster schedule has beneficial outputs.
“All of the vaccinated people in Australia have had either the Pfizer or Moderna mRNA vaccines, or the Astra Zeneca viral vector vaccine – with Novavax hopefully coming online soon,” Prof Richmond said.
“This project is trying to determine which vaccine combinations work best when giving boosters, in terms of having a stronger initial antibody response but also a longer-lasting immune response as well as being well tolerated,” he added.
The data obtained from this project may help researchers and policy makers design more effective vaccination strategies against COVID-19.
The project may also help researchers assess how current boosters can protect patients against new strains of the COVID-19 virus. “Current vaccines are focused on the original Wuhan strain of the virus, so in 12 months from now we may be dealing with a new dominant strain of COVID-19,” Prof Richmond said.
“We will be able to go back to the samples we’ve taken as part of this trial and see what effect the different vaccine combinations have had on the new viruses that emerge,” he added.