Bharat Biotech Working on Nasal Vaccine That Will Work as Booster Covid-19 Dose: Report

India may soon get a nasal vaccine which, if administered, will act as a Covid-19 booster dose and protect from infection.

Speaking at the Times Now India@75: The Freedom Summit on Sunday, Dr Krishna Ella, chairman and managing director of Bharat Biotech, said the Hyderabad-based Company is working on a combination of Covaxin followed by a nasal vaccine “so that Covaxin primes the system of innate immunity and then the boost by the nasal which produces three immune responses — the IGG, the IGA and then mucosal immunity.”

“All three immunities are powerful and can protect a person from getting infected,” Ella said.

Amid growing concerns over the spread of the new Delta variant of coronavirus, The Serum Institute of India (SII) had last week said that a booster dose provides a four-fold increase in neutralising antibody levels.

Additional studies in Britain and elsewhere are testing if the Novavax shot could be used as a booster after other types of Covid-19 vaccines.

Citing clinical trials, the SII said a booster shot of a Novavax vaccine six months after completing the second dose of an approved vaccine could provide increased protection against the delta variant and other variants, the trial data said.

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