Government approves Bharat Biotech’s Nasal covid vaccine

Tags: National Science and Technology

The government of India on 23 December 2022 has allowed the use of Bharat Biotech's nasal COVID-19 vaccine as a booster dose. The vaccine will be offered to people of 18 years and above.

The vaccine will be available initially at the private hospitals and can be booked on the CoWIN app from 23 December 2022. 

The nasal vaccine BBV154 had received approval of the  Drugs Controller General of India in November for restricted use in an emergency situation for those above 18 as a heterologous booster dose.

This vaccine has been specifically formulated to allow intranasal delivery through nasal drops. The nasal delivery system has been designed and developed to be cost-effective in low and middle-income countries.

It was developed in partnership with Washington University, St. Louis of the United States of America.

The rise of mutant variants in China and other countries may cause a fresh surge of infections in India, which is a cause of concern for the government.

Hyderabad based Bharat Biotech company has also developed injectable Covaxin vaccine with Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) and  National Institute of Virology, Pune.

Heterologous vaccine 

A heterologous vaccine is a type of booster vaccine which is given to a person who has already taken a different vaccine. A heterologous vaccine is also called a mix and match vaccine because a person is taking two types of vaccine for the same disease. 

The novel coronavirus was first detected in Wuhan China in December 2019 and was later declared a Public health emergency of International concern by the World Health Organisation on 30 January 2020 and a Pandemic on 11 March 2020.  The first case of the virus in India was confirmed in Kerala on 30 January 2020. 

The Covid vaccination in India was started on 16 January 2021.