Intranasal Covid vaccine phase II trial begins in Kanpur

As many as 30 volunteers consisting of doctors, their family members and others were administered the first dose of the intranasal vaccine. Another 20 people will be administered this vaccine in the next few days.

Abhinav Malhotra
  • Updated On Sep 1, 2021 at 05:02 PM IST
Read by: 100 Industry Professionals
Reader Image Read by 100 Industry Professionals
<p>(PTI Photo) (</p>
(PTI Photo) (
KANPUR: The phase II trials of India’s first intranasal vaccine against Covid-19 being developed by Bharat Biotech in collaboration with Washington University School of Medicine in St Louis, commenced at city’s Prakhar hospital on Tuesday. Kanpur is the only centre in the state where intranasal vaccine trials against Covid are being done.

As many as 30 volunteers consisting of doctors, their family members and others were administered the first dose of the intranasal vaccine. Another 20 people will be administered this vaccine in the next few days. It would be after 28 days, the second dose of this vaccine would be administered to these 50 volunteers. All the volunteers who were administered nasal vaccine are adults, said principal investigator for intranasal Covid Vaccine, Dr JS Kushwaha while talking to TOI.

Advt
He said that the doses of the vaccine administered to healthy volunteers in this phase of trial have been well tolerated and no serious adverse events were reported. However, all the volunteers are under observation.

Dr Kushwaha who administered the vaccine to the volunteers, while explaining how this vaccine was delivered, said, “Two drops of the intranasal vaccine were put into each nostril of a volunteer. After a gap of five minutes two more drops were administered in the same fashion. This way a total of eight vaccine drops was administered to each person. The volunteer was then observed for any reaction for over an hour before being allowed to proceed home.”

He added, “Those administered vaccines today will now report after 28 days and the same procedure will be repeated.”

He also said that prior to the administration of the intranasal vaccine during the second time, saliva and blood samples will be collected for studying immunogenicity.

He also mentioned that if the intranasal vaccine gets approval in future, it would be a great invention and also a huge relief for people who are scared of taking vaccine doses through injection.

“The intranasal vaccine is dropped into the nostril of a person and it gradually slips into the respiratory tract. The dosage of this vaccine is repeated after 28 days just like Covaxin, which is administered twice in the same time period. The vaccine would neutralise the virus in the nostril itself and would not allow it to penetrate deep down into the respiratory tract,” Dr Kushwaha told TOI.

Advt
He said that once both the dosages of this vaccine are administered to a volunteer, his/her blood and saliva samples would be collected and sent to Bharat Biotech for antibody analysis. “As of now, nowhere in the world, intranasal vaccines exist. Americans are also trying to develop intranasal vaccines and so are we. If this vaccine gets developed it would be a major breakthrough in the fight against Covid-19,” said Dr Kushwaha.

  • Published On Sep 1, 2021 at 05:02 PM IST
Be the first one to comment.
Comment Now

Join the community of 2M+ industry professionals

Subscribe to our newsletter to get latest insights & analysis.

Download ETHealthworld App

  • Get Realtime updates
  • Save your favourite articles
Scan to download App