A nasal spray vaccine can be a gamechanger in the fight against Covid-19. Hyderabad-based Bharat Biotech has started the clinical trial of the intranasal vaccine.
Scientists say that the vaccine stimulates an immune response in just 14 days. It will minimise the virus load in the local area from where the virus enters the body. Several studies have suggested that the virus first becomes firmly established in the nasal cavity and then it is spread to the other parts body, affecting the lungs most.
The current vaccines are being administered using a syringe and a country like India would require at least 260 crore syringes to inoculate the entire population.
Also, the intranasal vaccine is a single-dose drug and has lesser side effects than other vaccine candidates. Covishield and Covaxin are the two vaccines that have been emergency use nod by the DGCI in India. The two vaccines develop protective levels of antibodies after two weeks of inoculation.
Bharat Biotech had in September last year signed an agreement with the Washington University School of Medicine to work on an intranasal vaccine. The pre-clinical trial of the vaccine candidate, BBV154 has already started. If all goes as expected, the clinical trial would be completed by June and it could become available in the market by August.
