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Explainer | Are inhaled Covid-19 vaccines the future? One Chinese developer has already conducted early trials
- Vaccines delivered through the nose and mouth could be easier to store and administer and help people who are afraid of needles
- The Chinese firm CanSino Biologics has seen promising early results for an aerosol version of its single-dose shot
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Zhuang Pinghuiin Beijing
Every Covid-19 vaccine that has been cleared for use so far is meant to be injected into the upper arm, but scientists are exploring a different method of delivery – through the nose and mouth.
Of the more than 100 Covid-19 vaccines undergoing clinical studies recognised by the World Health Organization, eight are intranasal vaccines.
These are designed to target the mucosa of the nose and throat area where the coronavirus first enters the body, and offer a different immune response.
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Last week, China’s CanSino Biologics published the results of an early-stage clinical trial which found that an aerosol inhaled version of its Ad5-nCoV vaccine – which is already approved for use in a single-dose, injectable form in China, Pakistan and Mexico – triggered immune responses without serious side effects.
Two inhaled doses of the vaccine given 28 days apart, each a fifth of the injectable dose in volume, induced similar levels of neutralising antibodies to those of a single injection of the same vaccine, according to the peer-reviewed paper by researchers from the Beijing Institute of Biotechnology, the Academy of Military Medical Sciences and CanSino.
Some of the 130 Chinese trial participants received a single dose of the injectable version of the vaccine followed by an inhaling booster 28 days later. The group induced strong neutralising antibody responses, according to the paper.
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