India’s First Nasal Covid Vaccine iNCOVACC Launched

New Delhi: The first COVID-19 intranasal vaccination, iNCOVACC, was launched today by Union Minister of Science and Technology Jitendra Singh and Union Health Minister Dr Mansukh Mandaviya. The vaccine, developed by Indian company Bharat Biotech, will cost the government Rs 325 per dosage while private hospitals will have to pay Rs 800 a dose.

The primary 2-dose schedule and the heterologous booster dose were approved for the company in December 2022. Prior to that, the Central Drugs Standard Control Organization (CDSCO) had authorised the intranasal vaccine’s limited usage in emergency cases for people aged 18 years or above.

The vaccination must be administered in two doses separated by 28 days.

The head of the nation’s vaccine task force told last month, a week after the nasal vaccine was offered on the CoWin platform, that people who have already received a precautionary or booster dosage cannot receive the nasal vaccine.

People can now visit the CoWin website to schedule an appointment for the intranasal vaccine shot.

iNCOVACC was developed in collaboration with Washington University in St. Louis, which created the recombinant adenoviral vectored construct and tested its efficiency in preclinical research.

Bharat Biotech developed products involving preclinical safety assessment, large-scale manufacturing scale-up, formulation and delivery device development, as well as human clinical trials.

The Department of Biotechnology of the Government of India provided funding for product development and clinical studies under the Covid Suraksha initiative.