As the global race to find a coronavirus vaccine heats up, British researchers say immunizations may be more effective if administered through a nasal spray rather than an injection, according to reports.
Scientists at Oxford University and Imperial College London, currently undergoing human trials of injection-administered COVID-19 vaccines, plan to launch a second wave of studies looking at “mucosal immunization.”“The Daily Mail reported.
“Right now, most vaccines are administered by conventional intramuscular injection … The reason is that it is the easiest and fastest way to get out of the starting blocks and into the studies.” But some of us [are] also interested in immunizing mucosa, “Professor Robin Shattock, an immunologist at Imperial, told the UK House of Commons Committee on Science and Technology.
“And certainly [Oxford’s] Professor Gilbert and I are already discussing how we could move that as a second wave of clinical study. “
Sarah Gilbert, professor of vaccinology at Oxford, added that vaccines given orally or nasally “would have a much stronger mucosal response,” which is “probably really important in protecting against respiratory pathogens.”
However, Gilbert said it is “very difficult to study and we are still not very good at measuring it.”
“But, as Professor Shattock said, we are very interested in analyzing delivery in the respiratory tract, be it intranasal delivery [via a nasal spray] or spray supply [using an inhaler]Gilbert said, according to the Daily Mail.
“This brings the vaccine to the lungs, where it can access the same tissue that the virus infection would reach.”
Also, older people, who are at the highest risk of dying from COVID-19, do not respond to traditional vaccines, as do younger, healthier people, but may respond better with mucosal immunization because it directly protects the lungs. , the reported departure.
Oxford is currently leading the charge in a COVID-19 cure and its vaccine is being tested in more than 10,000 people in Britain, Brazil and South Africa, the outlet reported.
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