Studies are underway for mixing Pfizer’s mRNA shot with AstraZeneca’s viral vector vaccine.In May, 20 people in India's Uttar Pradesh were accidentally administered doses of Covaxin after they took Covishield.
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In mid-January, Kirill Dmitriev – the 45-year old CEO of the $10-billion state-owned Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) – received a phone call from a close friend in China. It was businessman Wang Jian.
Jian, the chairman and co-founder of BGI Group, one of the leading companies in the world in sequencing human genomes, was in Wuhan attempting to use the genetic information captured from samples of the SARS-CoV-2 virus to develop the first diagnostic tests for what would soon become known as Covid-19. Jian warned that the situation in Wuhan was serious and could escalate into a global crisis. “After this conversation, I became frankly, one of the most paranoid people about Covid-19 in top Russian circles,” Dmitriev says.