Bharat Biotech's nasal Covid vaccine likely to be available in govt centres in Delhi by mid-Feb
2 min read . Updated: 28 Jan 2023, 07:30 AM IST
Premium- The needle-free vaccine can be administered as a precautionary dose to adults who have been vaccinated with two doses of either Covishield or Covaxin.
Bharat Biotech's intranasal Covid vaccine, iNCOVACC, is likely to be available at government centres in Delhi by mid-February, senior officials of the Delhi government told Hindustan Times.
As pert the official, the availability of the vaccine in private centres will, however, depend on the bookings made by each hospital.
Speaking of booster dose data in the national capital, data shows that less than 30 percent of the city’s population has taken the Covid booster dose, as reported by HT.
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The needle-free vaccine can be administered as a precautionary dose to adults who have been vaccinated with two doses of either Covishield or Covaxin.
On 26 January, health minister Mansukh Mandaviya and Science and Technology Minister Jitendra Singh had launched the world’s first COVID-19 intranasal vaccine. The vaccine will cost at government hospitals for ₹325 a dose, and for ₹800 in private settings. It is country’s first indigenously made nasal Covid-19 vaccine.
“We will start procuring stocks. After February 15, the nasal vaccines are expected to be administered in our centres," a government official told HT.
The intranasal vaccine iNCOVACC is a recombinant replication deficient adenovirus vectored vaccine with a pre-fusion stabilised spike protein. This vaccine candidate was evaluated in phase I, II and III clinical trials with successful results, the Hyderabad-based vaccine-maker had said in a statement.
Max Healthcare's group medical director Dr Sandeep Budhiraja informed that the only 27 percent of India's population has taken the booster dose and the nasal vaccine will encourage people to get the booster dose due to its ease of administration.
While speaking to HT, he said, “I think people will be encouraged to get the nasal vaccines as their booster because of the ease of administration. Some people have a phobia of needles so it is an easy vaccine to administer. Currently, just about 27% of the population in India have taken their third dose. There is a need for people to take their booster doses and with this sort of nasal vaccine being propagated and approved, the uptake among the people would be higher."
Meanwhile, the country logged 99 new coronavirus infections, while the active cases declined to 1,896, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Friday. According to the ministry's website 220.36 crore doses of Covid vaccine have been administered in the country so far under the nationwide vaccination drive.
