Tweet
07 September 2022
Emily Waltz
Two needle-free COVID-19 vaccines that are delivered through the nose or mouth have been approved for use in China and India. China’s new vaccine, announced on Sunday, is inhaled through the nose and mouth as an aerosolized mist, and India’s, announced on Tuesday, is administered as drops in the nose.
These mucosal vaccines target thin mucous membranes that line the nose, mouth and lungs. By prompting immune responses where SARS-CoV-2 first enters the body, mucosal vaccines could, in theory, prevent even mild cases of illness and block transmission to other people — something COVID-19 shots have been unable to do. Vaccines that produce sterilizing immunity would be game changing for the pandemic.
“These approvals validate the need for mucosal vaccines,” says Marty Moore, co-founder of Meissa Vaccines in Redwood City, California, which is developing a COVID-19 immunization that is delivered through the nose. “That’s the direction we need to go globally, and the United States needs to catch up.”
The regulatory nods from China and India bring the number of approved COVID-19 mucosal vaccines in the world to four, including one already approved in Iran and another in Russia.
... China’s inhaled vaccine, developed by CanSino Biologics in Tianjin, contains the same ingredients as the company’s COVID-19 shot that is already available in the country. A device called a nebulizer turns the liquid vaccine into an aerosol spray that is inhaled. China’s health department and National Medical Products Administration approved the vaccine to be used as a booster dose.
India’s vaccine, developed by Bharat Biotech in Hyderabad, is approved as a two-dose primary inoculation, rather than a booster.
Both companies have produced ‘viral vector’ vaccines that use a harmless adenovirus to deliver SARS-CoV-2 genetic material into host cells. Neither company has published phase III clinical-trial data, but both say they have completed those studies. ...
Emily Waltz
Two needle-free COVID-19 vaccines that are delivered through the nose or mouth have been approved for use in China and India. China’s new vaccine, announced on Sunday, is inhaled through the nose and mouth as an aerosolized mist, and India’s, announced on Tuesday, is administered as drops in the nose.
These mucosal vaccines target thin mucous membranes that line the nose, mouth and lungs. By prompting immune responses where SARS-CoV-2 first enters the body, mucosal vaccines could, in theory, prevent even mild cases of illness and block transmission to other people — something COVID-19 shots have been unable to do. Vaccines that produce sterilizing immunity would be game changing for the pandemic.
“These approvals validate the need for mucosal vaccines,” says Marty Moore, co-founder of Meissa Vaccines in Redwood City, California, which is developing a COVID-19 immunization that is delivered through the nose. “That’s the direction we need to go globally, and the United States needs to catch up.”
The regulatory nods from China and India bring the number of approved COVID-19 mucosal vaccines in the world to four, including one already approved in Iran and another in Russia.
... China’s inhaled vaccine, developed by CanSino Biologics in Tianjin, contains the same ingredients as the company’s COVID-19 shot that is already available in the country. A device called a nebulizer turns the liquid vaccine into an aerosol spray that is inhaled. China’s health department and National Medical Products Administration approved the vaccine to be used as a booster dose.
India’s vaccine, developed by Bharat Biotech in Hyderabad, is approved as a two-dose primary inoculation, rather than a booster.
Both companies have produced ‘viral vector’ vaccines that use a harmless adenovirus to deliver SARS-CoV-2 genetic material into host cells. Neither company has published phase III clinical-trial data, but both say they have completed those studies. ...
