New Delhi:

Bharat Biotech’s needle-free intranasal Covid vaccine has been cleared for restricted use in emergencies for those above the age of 18 years.

The Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO) gave its nod to the vaccine for use as both primary series as well as a heterologous booster.

In heterologous boosting, a person administered a different vaccine from the one that was used for the primary dose series.

In a statement, Bharat Biotech said that the intranasal vaccine iNCOVACC had proven to be safe during clinical trials. The company said the vaccine was tested both as a primary dose and as a heterologous booster dose, but no efficacy data has been provided yet. iNCOVACC will become the first intranasal vaccine in the world.

“Clinical trials were conducted to evaluate iNCOVACC as a primary dose schedule, and as heterologous booster dose for subjects who have previously received two doses of the two commonly administered COVID vaccines in India,” Bharat Biotech said in a statement.

“iNCOVACC 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,” the company added.

Source link: https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/bharat-biotech-to-launch-1st-nasal-covid-vaccine-no-efficacy-data-released-3560356