Can’t take nasal vaccine after booster dose, says DR NK Arora

iNCOVACC, the intra-nasal vaccine developed by Bharat Biotech International Limited. ANI

New Delhi: India’s nasal vaccine cannot be administered to those who have taken a booster dose, Dr N K Arora, Chairman of India’s COVID-19 Working Group of the National Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (NTAGI) told NDTV on Tuesday in an exclusive interview.

“Nasal vaccine is recommended as the first booster. For example, if a person has already received a precaution dose, it is not recommended for that person. It is for those who have not yet taken a precaution dose,” Dr NK Arora said in the interview.

The central government has approved the use of Bharat Biotech’s nasal Covid vaccine iNCOVACC to be included in the country’s vaccination programme as a booster dose for those above 18 years of age.

iNCOVACC is a recombinant replication-deficient adenovirus vectored vaccine with a pre-fusion stabilized SARS-CoV-2 spike protein.

Not a fourth dose

People who have already taken a booster- third dose will not be able to avail the nasal vaccine. It is only meant for those who haven’t yet taken the booster shots.

There is a concept what is called as ‘antigen sink’. If a person is repeatedly immunised with a particular type of antigen, the body stops responding, or responds poorly. And that is why initially mRNA vaccines are given with a gap of six months. Later on, people are taking at three-month gap. But it has not helped too much in that case. Therefore, at the moment taking a fourth dose is of no value,” Dr Arora was quoted as saying by NDTV.

Nasal vaccine provides a very interesting way of immunisation

The immune system creates roadblocks at the respiratory system’s entry points of the nose and mouth to prevent the virus from entering the body easily. Not only will this aid in the fight against COVID, but it will also serve as a platform for the fight against all respiratory infections and viruses, says Dr. Arora.

Anybody above the age of 18 years can get the nasal vaccine

Anyone above the age of 18 is eligible for the nasal vaccine. “It’s very simple. Four drops in each nostril, total of 0.5 ml is to be administered. That’s it. And it has very little adverse events except some nasal blockage for a short while, otherwise whatever the data is, it is an extremely safe vaccine,” he said.

Booster after nasal vaccine

On whether people would need to take booster after booster doses of the nasal vaccine, Dr Arora told NDTV, “The scientific answer is at the moment there is no evidence that further vaccines will be required or not required. People continue to have infection even in countries where they have received three, four, or five doses of the vaccination, especially in North America and Europe particularly these mRNA vaccines.

iNCOVACC has been specifically formulated to allow intranasal delivery through nasal drops. The nasal delivery system has been designed and developed to be cost-effective in low- and middle-income countries.

The vaccine was developed in partnership with Washington University, St. Louis, which had designed and developed the recombinant adenoviral vectored construct and evaluated in preclinical studies for efficacy.

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