Nasal Covaxin trials in Nagpur soon

NAGPUR: After Covishield and Covaxin — both already tried in Nagpur — received emergency use approval from the government; now the city is all set to host trial for nasal variant of the Covaxin made by Bharat Biotech. The Indian vaccine maker has collaborated with Washington University to conduct these trials.
Phase I and II trials of the nasal variant will start at Dr Gillurkar’s Hospital, where the first two phases of Covaxin were held earlier.
“We are all set to host the trials for nasal Covaxine in next two weeks. Enough scientific evidences are available that vaccines given through nasal route are more effective than injected ones,” said Dr Chandrashekhar Gillukar.
According to Bharat Biotech, this single dose intranasal vaccine was found effective in preventing infection in mice susceptible to the novel coronavirus. Four times more antibodies were generated in the body of subject after administering the nasal vaccine.
Other benefits of intranasal vaccines are that they are simple to administer, and they reduce use of medical consumables such as needles and syringes. Eventually, overall cost of a vaccination drive reduces. Nasal vaccine is given only once.
“India needs at least 80 crore doses for an effective first phase vaccination drive. About 2 crore Covaxin doses are ready, apart from 4 crore of Covishield. As our requirement is huge, it’s must for country like India to search for more options by conducting such trials,” said Dr Gillurkar.
Dr Ashish Tajane, who has been coordinating most vaccine trials in Nagpur, said the vaccines will be effective, irrespective of mutations and new strains of novel coronavirus.
“Covaxin is a whole-viron inactivated vaccine (the whole virus vaccine). It targets all parts of the virus rather than only some. This makes it a more effective tool against the new virus strain like the one found in the United Kingdom,” he said.
Earlier to this, human trials of Covaxin with intradermal route are already underway in Nagpur at Meditrina Institute of Medical Sciences. Two phases have been successful so far. Experts have informed that doctors and health workers will initially get Covishield shots, while Covaxin will be available later.
Nagpur and Covid-19 vaccine
Covaxin — Phase I (55 volunteers), Phase II (50 volunteers), Phase III (1600+)
Covishield — Phase II and III trials (200 volunteers in Nagpur, 200 in Sevagram)
Covaxin (intradermal route) — Phase I and II trials done in Nagpur
Covaxin (nasal route) — set to start soon