Jalna: In a shocking incident, a 72-year-old man in Maharashtra was vaccinated with two doses of different vaccines against the novel coronavirus.

Dattatraya Waghmare, who is a resident of Khandvi village in Partur taluka of Jalna district in the state, was given the first shot of Covaxin, developed by Bharat Biotech on March 22 at a rural hospital. On April 30, he received his second jab, this time a Covishield vaccine manufactured by the Serum Institute of India. The second jab was given to him at a different primary healthcare centre in his village.

Digambar Waghmare, the vaccine recipient’s son, stated his father experienced slight side effects after the second dose, including a moderate fever, rashes on the body and anxiety attacks. “We took him to the state healthcare centre at Partur, where he was given some medication. The lapse on the part of the health machinery came to notice only a few days ago, when I saw his two vaccination certificates," NDTV quoted Digambar as saying.

Waghmare was given Covaxin in the first dose, according to the “provisional certificate" while his “final certificate" displayed he received Covishield in the second dose.

Waghmare’s family has complained that he developed minor complications. Waghmare’s son Digambar said that his father developed complications, reported TOI. Waghmare’s 29-year-old son runs a salon in Jalna. “We took him to the state health centre at Partur, where he was given some medication. The lapse on the part of the health machinery came to notice only a few days ago when I saw his two vaccination certificates,” he was quoted as saying.

The patient is reportedly had undergone a bypass surgery a couple of years ago. Members of his family took the issue with the health authorities at the taluka level. A probe has been ordered in the case, according to the health officials from the Aurangabad division.

What does the research say about mixing vaccines?

Researchers and public health officials are investigating policies such as combination of two different shots as many low- and middle-income countries try to figure out how to survive with vaccine shortage. Guarantee that mismatched shots are still safe and effective would make it easier for governments to manage their stocks and provide more insight into a mix-up that’s already used in some nations.

For instance, people in France who received a first dose of the Astra vaccine before the government restricted it to older patients are being offered the vaccine developed by Pfizer and BioNTech SE for their second dose. About 10 per cent of participants who got mixed doses reported severe fatigue, for instance, compared with about 3 per cent for those inoculated with a single type of vaccine, the research stated.

Not every vaccine can work when combined but researchers believe it can be done with those that share the same target - in this case the virus’s surge protein. The mixed regimen is called as a heterologous boost.