News Analysis India

Tag: nasal vaccine

  • Nasal vaccines a gamechanger, can block virus at entry site: Expert

    By Express News Service
    Nasal vaccine will be a gamechanger, best suited for vaccinating children against Covid-19. A single dose will suffice to stimulate the immune response, and there will be no hassle of taking an injection, Dr Rajinder Kumar Singal, senior director and HOD-internal medicine, BLK Max Hospital, Delhi, said during a panel discussion on ‘Covid-19: Lessons Learnt and Planning Forward’.

    “In six to eight weeks, we expect nasal vaccines to be available. They will be cheaper and will block the entrance site of the virus,” said Dr Singal.Agreeing with him, Professor and Padma Shri awardee Dr Mohan Kameswaran, Otorhinolaryngologist, founder, Madras ENT Research Foundation, Chennai, said nasal vaccines are ideal for India, where vaccine hesitancy is largely connected to getting an injection.

    Doctors on the panel agreed that a booster dose will be needed against the coronavirus. This was confirmed through the results of a study done by Neuberg Diagnostics. Sharing details, Dr Bhavini Shah, director, Neuberg Centre of Genomic Medicine, Ahmedabad, said they tested antibody levels in people who did not get Covid before taking the vaccine, one month after taking the first dose, one month after the second dose, and three months after the second dose.

    “In 40 % of the people who had never been infected by Covid, IgG antibody titres increased to 75-95 AU/ml range one month after taking the vaccine, after taking the second dose, the titres ranged between 175 and 200 AU/ml. However, after three months, it dropped from 200/190 AU/ml to 120. In those who had Covid-19, the antibodies were above 400 AU/ml. This indicates the need for a booster dose,” Dr Shah said.

    Both Dr Kameswaran and Dr Hemalata Arora, general physician and infectious disease specialist, Nanavati Max Super Speciality Hospital, Mumbai, said the chances of people developing mucormycosis (black fungus) post taking the vaccine, are lower.“60 per cent to 70 per cent of the patients who came to me with black fungus had not taken the vaccine, 25-30 per cent had taken one dose and less than 5 per cent had taken both doses. Thus, people who have taken both doses have a good chance against Covid-19 infection, and are much less prone to black fungus,” Dr Kameswaran said.

    Dr Arora said the antibodies produced by the vaccine protect against Covid, complications, side-effects, blood clotting, secondary infections and mucormycosis too. “There are studies being done on using mRNA vaccines for booster doses rather than taking the same DNA vaccines we took the first and second time. Mixing might be more appropriate, though there may be some side-effects,” Dr Arora added.

  • COVID-19: Nod for Bharat Biotech’s nasal vaccine trials touted as a game changer

    Express News Service
    NEW DELHI:  With India’s apex drug regulator approving Bharat Biotech to start clinical trials of intranasal Covid-19 vaccine candidate, hopes have risen that the country could soon have a crucial and easy tool to prevent the highly infectious disease. 

    As intranasal vaccine requires minimal training to administer and will not need a needle and syringe, it is being touted as a game changer in controlling the pandemic. A subject expert committee on Covid-19 of the CDSCO earlier this month permitted the Hyderabad-based vaccine maker to launch the Phase I clinical trial of an intranasal vaccine candidate for the Covid-19.

    “After detailed deliberation, the committee recommended for the conduct of proposed Phase I clinical trial,” said the minutes of the SEC meeting.  The approval followed Bharat Biotech presenting its proposal along with revised Phase I clinical trial protocol of the chimpanzee adenovirus vectored Covid-19 Vaccine intranasal as sought by the committee, at its meeting last month.

    Bharat Biotech and Washington University School of Medicine in St Louis had announced a licensing agreement in September for the nasal vaccine candidate, under which the company bagged the distribution rights in all markets except the US, Japan and Europe.

    As per the CDSCO approval, the Phase 1 trial will involve testing the vaccine candidate on 75 volunteers in the proposed doses as per the protocol and will help generate safety and immunogenicity data.  “A nasal vaccine candidate has been identified. It has come for consideration for phase 1 and phase 2 trials. If it works then it could be a game-changer,” VK Paul, member (health), Niti Aayog had said last month.

    Many experts feel that nasal spray vaccines, apart from being easy to administer, is far likelier to prevent the virus from gaining a foothold in the body at an earlier stage. “There is so much stress on these vaccines because the evidence so far suggests that they can generate what we call a mucosal immune response,” said a member of the National Covid-19 task force. “In comparison to injectable vaccines, nasal sprays could also be far effective in reducing a person to person transmission of the disease.”