New Delhi: Amid a threat of a possible wave of Covid, Bharat Biotech, the manufacturer of Covaxin, is going to roll out nasal Covid vaccine as a booster dose in the country soon. The vaccine maker has got go-ahead from the authorities.
The development has paved way for more options for third or precautionary doses in India.
As per sources, permissions are in the final stage, and they could be introduced on the COWIN platform by the upcoming week.
Being a needleless shot, Bharat biotech’s Nasal vaccine will be India’s first such booster dose. It can be administered to those above 18 years. Cost of the vaccine will be decided soon and it will be made available in government and private facilities.
It is a vectored, needleless, intranasal Covid vaccine. An intranasal vaccine stimulates a broad immune response – neutralizing IgG, mucosal IgA, and T cell responses.
“This vaccine has the double benefit of enabling faster development of variant-specific vaccines and easy nasal delivery that enables mass immunization to protect from emerging variants of concern. It promises to become an important tool in mass vaccinations during pandemics and endemics,” Ministry of Science had said.
It comes with ease as one does not require a health practitioner or worker to give them a dose.
