New Delhi: The nasal vaccine, made by Hyderabad-based Bharat Biotech, could be a game-changer if it provides mucosal immunity, a senior epidemiologist at the Indian Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in Delhi has said.
According to Senior Epidemiologist Dr. Sanjay Rai, this vaccine could be a great achievement for the human race if this nasal vaccine provides mucosal immunity. “There are 33 vaccines in the world, but none are effective in preventing infection. We hope that this vaccine will provide mucosal immunity that can prevent further infection,” Dr. Rai said in an interview with ANI news agency.
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Ahead of the start of the budget session from Monday, Dr. Sanjay Rai said he expects the main concern at the time will be to strengthen the public health system at all primary, secondary and tertiary.
“This is not the last pandemic, we must prepare for future pandemics and to deal with them we must strengthen the public health system,” Dr. Rai was quoted by ANI as saying.
Notably, Bharat Biotech, the company that made India’s first Covid vaccine, Covaxin, has received approval from the Drug Controller General of India (DCGI) for trials of intranasal booster doses.
Earlier this month, India’s Drug Controller General’s subject matter expert committee gave the Hyderabad-based company a green light ‘in principle’ for conducting the ‘phase superiority study’. III and the Phase III booster dose study” for its Covid BBV154 intranasal vaccine.
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