Nasal Covid Vaccine: AIIMS Delhi to conduct Phase 2, 3 clinical trials soon

Bharat Biotech’s Intranasal Vaccination Regulatory approval for Phase II trials was received in August.

Here’s what you need to know about Bharat Biotech’s Nasal COVID Vaccine

1) Adenoviral Intranasal Vaccine BBV154 is the first COVID-19 vaccine of its kind to undergo human trials in India.

2) After Ethics Committee approval, Phase II trials will be conducted on volunteers who will be given two doses of the vaccine with an interval of four weeks in between.

3) According to the Ministry of Science and Technology, the phase 1 trial in healthy volunteers aged 18-60 years was well tolerated.

4) Trial for Phase III trial will start after completion of Phase II clinical trials.

5) Bharat BiotechDr Sanjay Rai will be the principal investigator of the nasal vaccine clinical trial.

Nasal vaccine may be more effective

Intramuscular injection produces antibodies that circulate in the blood to recognize the virus. But this route of administration does not necessarily produce antibodies in the nose and nasal passages.

This has raised the possibility that vaccinated people can still catch and spread the virus, even if they do not know they are infected. Scientists have proposed that vaccines given through the nose (intravenously) may be able to block SARS-CoV-2 in both the nasal passages and the bloodstream.

Vincent Munster of the NIH’s National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) tested intranasal delivery of the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine in hamsters and monkeys. The Oxford/AstraZeneca COVID-19 Vaccine Nasal Spray protected hamsters and monkeys from severe disease and reduced the amount of virus in the nose.