NASAL
COVID VACCINE - SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
News:
Bharat Biotech’s nasal
vaccine to be available as booster dose
What's
in the news?
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With the threat of COVID-19 resurfacing
and India ramping up preventive health surveillance measures, Health Minister
Mansukh Mandaviya said in December 23 that a vaccine, which could be
administered as nasal drops, would henceforth be available for public use.
iNCOVACC:
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Bharat
Biotech's iNCOVACC (ChAd36-SARS-CoV-S - Chimpanzee Adenovirus Vectored) COVID
recombinant nasal vaccine has been approved by Central Drugs
Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO) for primary immunization against COVID-19
in 18+ age group for restricted use in emergencies.
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It will strengthen India’s collective
fight against the pandemic.
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The product - iNCOVACC is stable at 2-8°C for easy storage and
distribution.
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The iNCOVACC is a recombinant
replication-deficient adenovirus vectored vaccine with a pre-fusion stabilized
spike protein.
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iNCOVACC has the double benefit of enabling faster development of variant-specific
vaccines and easy nasal delivery that enables mass immunisation to protect from
emerging variants of concern.
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It promises to become an important tool in
mass vaccinations during pandemics and endemics.
Nasal
vaccine:
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Vaccines are usually given through
different routes, with the most common being injectable shots delivered into
the muscles (intramuscular) or the tissue just between the skin and the muscles
(subcutaneous).
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There are also other routes of delivery,
especially in some vaccines for infants, that include administering the liquid
solution orally instead of injecting. In the intranasal route, the vaccine is
sprayed into the nostrils and inhaled.
Significance
of nasal vaccines:
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Many
viruses, including the coronavirus, enter the body through mucosa
- wet, squishy tissues that line the nose, mouth, lungs and digestive tract -
triggering a unique immune response from cells and molecules there.
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Experts believe an intranasal vaccine can
act against the virus from the time it tries to break the body’s barrier.
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Nasal vaccines trigger both the antibodies such as IgG (to roam the body in search of
the virus) and IgA (plays a key role in destroying the airway pathogens).
○
Instead, intramuscular vaccines generally
fail at eliciting this mucosal response, as they rely on immune cells mobilised
from elsewhere in the body flocking to the site of infection.
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These vaccines aim to overcome potential
difficulties with mass vaccination and
reduce the cost by doing away with the need for needles and syringes.
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Intranasal vaccines are also expected to cut down on the dependence on various
trained personnel to administer the vaccine.
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It can be self-administered in pandemics and outbreaks by just simply
squirting it into the nose.