The Center on Thursday launched India’s first nasal Kovid-19 vaccine iNCOVACC. Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya and Science and Technology Minister Jitendra Singh launched this nasal vaccine of Bharat Biotech on Thursday on the occasion of Republic Day. The world’s first India-made vaccine that can be administered through the nose was launched at Mandaviya’s residence here. iNCOVACC has received government approval to be used as a booster dose across the country.

What will be the cost of iNCOVACC?

The nasal vaccine ‘BBV154’ had received Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) approval in November for limited use in adults in the form of a heterologous booster dose. According to a statement issued earlier by Bharat Biotech, the cost of ‘Incovac’ is Rs 800 for the private sector and Rs 325 for supply to the Government of India and state governments. In a heterologous booster dose, a booster dose may be given separately from the primary dose. The Hyderabad-based company said in a statement that the vaccine had successful results in three phases of clinical trials.

Where will this vaccine be available?

This nasal vaccine will be given to people above 18 years of age. It will be made available in private hospitals first. In addition, the iNCOVACC vaccine has already made its debut on CoWin. Bharat Biotech said that iNCOVACC will be the first needle-less booster dose for Kovid-19 in the country.

Can it prove to be a ‘game changer’?

An article published in the science journal Nature states that the vaccine given through the nose may be able to prevent even minor incidents of Kovid. This vaccine is given by spraying through the nose, which means that the vaccine is not applied on the arm of the person taking the vaccine. It said, “This vaccine enters your body through the mucosa and targets the thin membranes of the nose, mouth and lungs. Nasal vaccines are better because they are easier to apply and they create immunity in the mucosa itself, Due to which infection can be avoided in the beginning.

Thus, the intranasal vaccine may produce an immune response in the nose itself, which is the gateway for the virus. If your immunity is strong here, then in those cases this vaccine can prevent even mild cases of the disease. This is something that the COVID-19 shots which are administered through a needle cannot do. The journal wrote that vaccines that produce sterilizing immunity would be game-changing for the pandemic. It has been revealed in many researches that the corona makes a place in the body through the nose itself. In such a situation, if this vaccine is given through the nose, then it will prove to be very effective.

More than 100 nasal vaccines are being made

According to Airfinity, a health-analytics company in London, more than 100 mucosal vaccines against coronavirus disease are under development globally, and about 20 have reached clinical trials in humans. Talking about iNCOVACC, it has proved effective in three phase trials. The company included 175 people in Phase-1 trial and 200 people in Phase-II trial. The third phase trial was done in two ways. The first trial was done on 3,100 people, who were given two doses of the vaccine. The company claims that this vaccine has proved effective against Corona in the trial.