China has approved three COVID-19 vaccine candidates for clinical trials. (Figurative)
Beijing:
China has approved its first nasal spray vaccine for trials to combat the new coronavirus that has claimed more than 904,000 lives and infected more than 27 million people worldwide, official media reported.
China’s only nasal spray vaccine against the coronavirus is expected to begin phase I clinical trials in November, and is recruiting 100 volunteers.
It is the only vaccine of its kind approved by the China National Medical Products Administration, the Global Times reported.
The vaccine is a collaborative mission between Hong Kong and mainland China involving researchers from the University of Hong Kong, Xiamen University, and Beijing Wantai Biological Pharmacy.
University of Hong Kong microbiologist Yuen Kwok-yung said the vaccine stimulates the natural infection pathway of respiratory viruses to activate the immune response.
The nasal spray vaccine could provide double protection for recipients of the vaccine, influenza and the new coronavirus, if it also contains influenza viruses, including H1N1, H3N2 and B, Yuen said, adding that he would take at least another year to complete the three clinical trials.
A Beijing-based immunologist told the newspaper that compared to injections, a nasal spray vaccine is easier to administer and would also be easy to mass-produce and distribute, as it adopts the technology of vaccine production against the mature influenza.
The nasal spray vaccine uses the live attenuated influenza vaccine; the other four technical routes that China is using to develop coronavirus vaccines are inactivated vaccines, adenoviral vector-based vaccines, and DNA and mRNA vaccines. The inactivated vaccine is estimated to be the earliest to hit the market, according to the report.
The immunologist said that the new vaccine may not cause systemic side effects, but that side effects can occur in the respiratory system, such as asthma and shortness of breath.
Ideally, scientists don’t expect side effects except for a minor nasal obstruction or runny nose, Yuen Kwok-yung said.
It is not yet clear whether the immunity generated by nasal spray vaccines will last longer than injected vaccines, according to the report.
China has approved three COVID-19 vaccine candidates for clinical trials. It has also authorized the emergency use of COVID-19 vaccines developed by select national companies.
“We have put together a series of plan packages, including medical consent forms, side effect monitoring plans, rescue plans, compensation plans, to make sure that emergency use is well regulated and monitored,” Zheng Zhongwei, director of China’s coronavirus vaccine. The development working group told official media here last month.
An emergency use authorization, which is based on China’s vaccine management law, allows the use of unapproved candidate vaccines among people who are at high risk of becoming infected within a limited period.
The Global Times previously reported that state enterprise (SOE) employees preparing to go abroad and front-line physicians have been offered two domestic inactivated candidate vaccine options developed by Sinopharm for urgent use.
The new coronavirus, which originated in the Chinese city of Wuhan in December last year, has claimed 904,485 lives and infected 27,902,002 worldwide. The United States is the most affected country with 190,887 deaths and 6,363,729 infections, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is posted from a syndicated feed.)
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