India is currently battling the third wave of the pandemic due to the highly infectious Omicron variant of the corona virus . To prevent epidemic , booster dose is also being given in the form of prevention dose in the country .In such a situation, to increase the availability of the vaccine, the Drug Controller General of India (DCGI) has approved the clinical trial of Bharat Biotech ‘s nasal vaccine for use as a booster.
Bharat Biotech sent a proposal last month
Let us inform that after the announcement of giving ‘precaution dose’ to people with co-morbidities above 60 years of age including healthcare and frontline workers in the country, Bharat Biotech had sought approval from DCGI for trial of its nasal vaccine for use in it. .During that time the company had said that its nasal vaccine could prove to be a good option for giving booster doses to people who had taken both doses of Covishield and Covaxin.
DCGI’s expert committee had recommended approval
Earlier this month, the Subject Expert Committee (SEC) of DCGI discussed the proposal sent by Bharat Biotech.In that, the committee, considering the company’s nasal vaccine effective, recommended DCGI to approve its second and third phase clinical trials for use in booster doses.After this DCGI has now approved this booster nasal vaccine of Bharat Biotech for trial.
Nasal vaccine trial will be done on 900 people
The company had sought permission from DCGI to test its nasal booster dose to 5,000 people, but now it has been approved to test it on 900 people.This will include 50 percent volunteers taking Covishield supplements and 50 percent taking Covaxin supplements.If this vaccine shows effective results in the trial, then it can be approved for use as a booster dose by March.
How does the nasal vaccine work?
Let us inform that Bharat Biotech has developed a nasal vaccine against the corona epidemic, based on the novel adenovirus vector, named BBV154.This lgG prepares the immune system to neutralize the mucosal lgA and T cell responses. The special thing is that it is effective in preventing both corona virus infection and its spread.This vaccine does not require a syringe, so the risk of injury and infection is very low.
