Bharat Biotech's nasal vaccine to be available on CoWIN app

Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya said that Bharat Biotech nasal vaccine has been approved as a booster dose. Bharat Biotech’s intranasal Covid vaccine will be available in private centres and will be introduced on CoWIN soon.

“The government of India has approved the nasal vaccine. It will be used as a heterologous booster and will be available first in private hospitals. It will be included in Covid vaccination program from today,” media reports quoted official sources.

Also read: Bharat Biotech’s intranasal vaccine gets approval for emergency use

Needle-less jab

Bharat Biotech’s nasal vaccine, being a needle-less jab, will be India’s first such booster dose. It can be administered to those above 18 years. Pricing of the vaccine will be decided soon and it will be made available in government and private facilities.

Those who have taken Covishield and Covaxin can take the nasal vaccine as a heterologous booster dose.

Currently Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin, Serum Institute’s Covishield and Covovax, Russian Sputink V and Biological E Ltd’s Corbevax are listed in the CoWin portal. On September 6, the vaccine maker announced that its iNCOVACC (BBV154), has received approval from Drugs Controller General of India under restricted use in emergency situation for ages 18 and above.

Indigenous vaccine

The ministry of science recognised the vaccine as the ‘World’s first intra-nasal vaccine for COVID developed by India’. The vaccine has been developed in partnership with Washington University St Louis, which has designed and developed and evaluated it in preclinical studies for efficacy.

Also read: Take precautionary booster dose against COVID, urges PM Modi

Product development related to preclinical safety evaluation, large-scale manufacturing scale-up, formulation and delivery device development, including human clinical trials, were conducted by Bharat Biotech.

The product development and clinical trials were funded in part by the Government of India through the Department of Biotechnology’s, Covid Suraksha programme.

(With Agency inputs)