India’s technical expert committee on immunisation has recommended the use of Bharat Biotech’s nasal vaccine against Covid-19 as a booster for adults, Union health minister Mansukh Mandaviya said in Parliament on Thursday, with people aware of the matter separately saying that the roll-out could happen as soon as next week.

The vaccine, branded iNCOVACC, was approved by the country’s drugs regulator and will add to India’s arsenal of tools to fight the pandemic. Experts are particularly hopeful over of its utility since it is easy to administer and creates immunity in the nose (the site where the coronavirus first takes hold) – factors that could help overcome hesitancy around booster doses.

Around 719 million of 940 million adults are yet to take boosters, according to data analysed by HT.

If there is a sudden rush for these pending doses, people aware of the matter said, there are adequate doses to distribute among states, even though the companies have stopped production.

Source: PTI and HT