Bharat Biotech’s COVID-19 intranasal nasal vaccine, the first of its kind in India, has been approved by the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI).
It was developed by scientists at Washington University in St. Louis and later licensed to Bharat Biotech.
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Usage, availability
The vaccine is called BBV154 intranasal COVID vaccine.
It is to be used for primary immunisation of those aged 18 years and above in emergency situations.
Coming to when the product will be publicly available, the company said, “With the receipt of approval today, the product will be launched and available for use in due course of time”.
Features
The nasal vaccine is likely to block both infection and transmission of COVID-19.
It is non-invasive and needle-free, because of which needle-associated risks such as injuries and infections are eliminated.
It is easy to administer since it doesn’t need trained healthcare workers.
It suits both children and adults.
How it works
The vaccine causes the immune system to make proteins in the patients blood and in the nose which helps fight the virus.
It uses a harmless chimpanzee cold virus to deliver a copy of the coronavirus spike protein to the lining of the nose, which trains the body to react if it encounters the real virus.
This is especially useful for Covid since the nose is one of the most common ways the virus enters the body.
Side effects?
Bharat Biotech on 15 August said, “BBV154 has proven to be safe, well-tolerated & immunogenic in subjects in controlled clinical trials.”
Krishna Ella, Chairman and Managing Director of the company, had said earlier that there was no single instance of side effect or adverse reaction reported so far.
Benefits
Ella was earlier quoted saying that any injectable vaccine (as opposed to intranasal) only protects the lower level (of the body).
This is why those vaccinated with injectable vaccines may still test positive.
In contrast, the nasal jab protects the whole body.
Bharat Biotech also claimed that the “intranasal vaccine stimulates a broad immune response.”
It is also easy to administer since one just has to inhale the vaccine, which will in turn stimulate cellular immunity.