Nasal Booster Vaccine Coming Soon to India

The Subject Expert Committee (SEC) of the Drug Controller General of India (DCGI) is likely to meet on Tuesday to discuss Bharat Biotech's application for clinical trials of its intranasal Covid vaccine as a booster or a third dose.

The firm has proposed the booster dose for those who have been already taken either Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin or Serum Institute’s Covishield.

In its application, Bharat Biotech proposed to use its intranasal vaccine BBV154 as a heterologous booster dose for those who have been already inoculated against COVID-19 either Covaxin or Covishield.

Bharat Biotech aims to conduct clinical trials on 5,000 subjects (50 percent vaccinated with Covishield and 50 percent vaccinated with Covaxin). This booster dose is a needle-free, non-invasive, and easy to administer the vaccine, which is expected to be suitable for both children and adults. The interval between the second and the intranasal booster dose is expected to be six months. According to the reports, India is likely to get an Intranasal booster vaccine in March.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on December 25 announced the Covid-19 vaccine for children and booster doses, which PM Modi termed as precaution doses, for frontline workers and senior citizens. On the same day, he also announced that there will be a nasal vaccine and DNA vaccine soon.

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