5 ms·

Somewhat off topic but in theory, would it be possible to have jab #1 be Moderna's and jab #2 be Pfizer? Would it be ethical to test this? Is there anything inh

Somewhat off topic but in theory, would it be possible to have jab #1 be Moderna's and jab #2 be Pfizer? Would it be ethical to test this? Is there anything inherent in either's approach that would make this dangerous?

BurningFrog 6y ago
As just another software guy who's near that dangerous "knows enough to be overconfident" spot: That would probably not work the same way. The point of a booster shot is to make the immune system "think" it's been infected by the same intruder twice, so it steps up permanent defences to a more serious level. Both the Moderna and Pfizer vaccine produces replicas of the virus "spike protein", but with (presumably) different mRNA formulas. So if their different versions are similar enough that the immune system sees them as "this shit again!", which would work as a booster shot, or as an unrelated infection, is impossible to say. At least for me, who is (again) unqualified to talk about this stuff. That said, two vaccines would at minimum be better than one.
- davrosthedalek 6y ago
  Well, they are at least similar enough to the real thing that the body would say "this shit again!" for the real virus. My guess is that they have different start/stop sequences (that shouldn't matter for the protein the mRNA is encoding) and different stabilizers to help the mRNA survive.
ufo 6y ago
There only way to know for sure would be to run a controlled trial. Vaccines can work (or not work) in surprising ways.
wyldfire 6y ago
The danger is that it's untested and might not provide any more benefit than just the first injection.
sanxiyn 6y ago
In theory, yes, that should work. In practice, immunology is very complex and the only way to be sure is to test.
zbjornson 6y ago
That approach is called heterologous prime-boost, and it's likely being tested for the Oxford/AstraZeneca + Pfizer combo and the Oxford/AstraZeneca + Sputnik V combo to try to increase potency (not to increase supply). It's not being tested for the combo of the two mRNA vaccines (Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna) though.
rsynnott 6y ago
That's something that may well get trialled at some point. In the absence of a trial, it certainly wouldn't be ideal, though.

BurningFrog 6y ago

As just another software guy who's near that dangerous "knows enough to be overconfident" spot: That would probably not work the same way. The point of a booster shot is to make the immune system "think" it's been infected by the same intruder twice, so it steps up permanent defences to a more serious level. Both the Moderna and Pfizer vaccine produces replicas of the virus "spike protein", but with (presumably) different mRNA formulas. So if their different versions are similar enough that the immune system sees them as "this shit again!", which would work as a booster shot, or as an unrelated infection, is impossible to say. At least for me, who is (again) unqualified to talk about this stuff. That said, two vaccines would at minimum be better than one.

davrosthedalek 6y ago
Well, they are at least similar enough to the real thing that the body would say "this shit again!" for the real virus. My guess is that they have different start/stop sequences (that shouldn't matter for the protein the mRNA is encoding) and different stabilizers to help the mRNA survive.

ufo 6y ago

There only way to know for sure would be to run a controlled trial. Vaccines can work (or not work) in surprising ways.

wyldfire 6y ago

The danger is that it's untested and might not provide any more benefit than just the first injection.

sanxiyn 6y ago

In theory, yes, that should work. In practice, immunology is very complex and the only way to be sure is to test.

zbjornson 6y ago

That approach is called heterologous prime-boost, and it's likely being tested for the Oxford/AstraZeneca + Pfizer combo and the Oxford/AstraZeneca + Sputnik V combo to try to increase potency (not to increase supply). It's not being tested for the combo of the two mRNA vaccines (Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna) though.

rsynnott 6y ago

That's something that may well get trialled at some point. In the absence of a trial, it certainly wouldn't be ideal, though.