THD NewsDesk, BEIJING: China has reportedly approved the clinical trial of its first nasal spray vaccine against the coronavirus on 10th September. The vaccine created to combat the pernicious coronavirus is the only one of its kind that has received the approval of China’s Medical Products Administration.
The first phase of trials is due to begin from November and people would have to wait for an entire year till the cycle of three trials is complete and the vaccine is released in the market. The recruiting process of 100 volunteers for the same would also commence soon.
The vaccine has been collaboratively developed by research scientists from the University of Hong Kong, Xiamen University, and Beijing Wantai Biological Pharmacy.
The nasal spray vaccine can be conveniently administered to patients compared to adenoviral vector-based and DNA and mRNA vaccines. Moreover, they are easier to produce in bulk as their manufacturing process has been acquired from the mature influenza production technology.
“We’ve drawn up a series of plan packages, including medical consent forms, side-effects monitoring plans, rescuing plans, compensation plans, to make sure the emergency use is well regulated and monitored,” Zheng Zhongwei, head of China’s coronavirus vaccine development task force said.
The vaccine has the potential to provide double protection to patients – against influenza as well as coronavirus containing influenza viruses including H1NI and H3N2. Dr. Yuen of the University of Hong Kong elaborated that the product is engineered to stimulate the natural infection pathway of respiratory viruses, triggering the immune response.
However, microbiologists have cautioned that the new vaccine might cause side effects that affect the respiratory system such as asthma or rhinorrhea. Apart from that, there is still ambiguity regarding the time span of the immunity generated by the vaccine.
China has assigned the responsibility of conducting the trials to three Covid-19 vaccine candidates and has legitimized the emergency usage of Covid-19 vaccines developed by select domestic companies.
SOURCE: Deccan Chronicle