Chinese scientists have developed an inhalable COVID-19 vaccine that promises “effective protection” against the virus.
“The COVID-19 pandemic has fostered major advances in vaccination technologies; however, there are urgent needs for vaccines that induce mucosal immune responses and for single-dose, non-invasive administration,” the study, published in the journal Nature, says. “Here we develop an inhalable, single-dose, dry powder aerosol SARS-CoV-2 vaccine that induces potent systemic and mucosal immune responses.”
The new vaccine will use nanoparticles containing antigens that will trigger an immune response.
“This vaccine induces strong production of IgG and IgA, as well as a local T cell response, collectively conferring effective protection against SARS-CoV-2 in mice, hamsters and nonhuman primates,” the authors add, explaining that the vaccine also extends the “breadth of antibody response against co-circulating strains and transmission of the Omicron variant.”
According to the study, many inhalable immunization efforts are limited to the nasal passage, whereas this developing vaccination technique can produce results in the “lower respiratory tract.”
“Nasal delivery of these vaccines is largely limited to the nasal passage, whereas aerosol inhaled vaccines can penetrate deeper and wider (to major and small airways). Beyond supporting the benefits of licensed adenovirus type-5 vector-based COVID-19 (Ad5-nCoV) vaccine upon delivery to the lower respiratory tract,” the authors wrote.
The authors believe individuals would be willing to take a needle-free vaccine.
“The inhalable vaccination addresses a known public health issue, in that there is more enthusiasm for this type of administration than for traditional injection, and a single-dose regimen is favourable for substantially increasing the proportion of total completed vaccination recipients,” the researchers noted, concluding that they “envision that our inhaled vaccine could serve as a promising multivalent platform for fighting COVID-19 and other respiratory infectious diseases.”
Another newly-researched COVID-19 vaccine aims to be needle-free.
The Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) is partnering with Jurata Thin Film, Inc. (Jurata) to create a thermostable mRNA vaccine film that will be delivered under the patient’s tongue.
CEPI will provide up to $1.2 million to support the technology.
“Jurata aims to improve vaccine accessibility to remote regions by stabilising the 3D structure of mRNA-containing lipid nanoparticle (LNP) vaccine materials, provided by Quantoom Biosciences, part of Univercells, into a thin thermostable film, thereby removing frozen storage needs,” a press release detailing the effort explained.
