If we can show that these mixed schedules generate an immune response that is as good as the standard schedules, and without a significant increase in the vaccine reactions, this will potentially allow more people to complete their COVID-19 immunisation course more rapidly, this would also create resilience within the system in the event of a shortfall in availability of any of the vaccines.

Matthew Snape

One of the things it's telling us is that, for example, you wouldn't want to immunize a ward full of nurses on the same day with a mixed schedule, because you may have higher rates of absenteeism in the next day.

We do think reactions often relate to the stimulating of the innate immune response, whether or not this will relate to actually an improved immune response we don't know yet. We'll be finding out those results in a few weeks time.

They are more or less the same types of reactions that you're seeing with the standard schedules. It's just that they're occurring more frequently, and we're seeing both more frequent both in mild and moderate symptoms -- but they resolved quickly.