J&J shot performs best with paired with booster dose from Moderna or Pfizer, NIH study suggests

(Reuters) -People who got Johnson & Johnson Inc’s COVID-19 vaccine as a first shot had a stronger immune response when boosted with vaccines from Pfizer Inc/BioNTech SE or Moderna Inc, a study run by the National Institutes of Health showed on Wednesday.

The study, which included more than 450 adults who received initial shots from Pfizer, Moderna, or Johnson & Johnson, showed that “mixing and matching” booster shots of different types is safe in adults. Moderna’s and Pfizer’s vaccines are based on messenger RNA while J&J’s uses viral vector technology.

The study, which has not yet been peer reviewed, contrasted the safety and immune response of volunteers who were boosted with the same type of shot they had been given for their initial vaccination with those who received different type of shot as a booster.

Mixing and matching doses for a booster produced similar side effects to those seen in primary inoculations and raised no significant safety concerns, the study said.

The study of the three COVID-19 vaccines currently authorized in the United States showed that using different types of shots as boosters generally appeared to produce a comparable or higher antibody response than using the same type

Mixing booster doses “may offer immunological advantages to optimize the breadth and longevity of protection achieved with currently available vaccines,” researchers wrote in the study.

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