Tastes like milk tea: Here comes China's ‘needle-free’ inhalable COVID-19 vaccine
2 min read . Updated: 27 Oct 2022, 11:54 AM IST
PremiumChina's Shanghai began dispensing an inhalable COVID-19 vaccination on October 26.
In what looks to be a first in the world, Shanghai began dispensing an inhalable COVID-19 vaccination on October 26. According to a posting on an official city social media account, the free booster dose of the vaccine, a mist that is breathed in via the lips, is being made available to those who have already had vaccinations.
Before loosening tight pandemic restrictions that are slowing the economy and pulling China further away from the rest of the globe, China wants more individuals to receive booster shots. 90% of Chinese people had completed their vaccinations as of mid-October, and 57% had had a booster dose.
Because they are simpler to deliver, such "needle-free" vaccines are expected to increase vaccination rates in nations with weak health systems. They might also convince those who dislike getting injected in the arm to have an immunisation.
People at a community health centre were seen in a video broadcast online by a Chinese official media agency inserting the short nozzle of a translucent white cup into their lips. According to the text that accompanied the image, people hold their breath for five seconds after slowly breathing, and the total process takes 20 seconds.
Non-needle vaccines' efficacy hasn't been thoroughly studied. The inhalable vaccine was approved by Chinese regulators in September, but only as a booster shot after trials revealed that it stimulated an immunological response in persons who had already received two doses of a different Chinese vaccine.
“It was like drinking a cup of milk tea," the Wall Street Journal quoted a Shanghai resident as saying in the video. “When I breathed it in, it tasted a bit sweet."
According to Dr. Vineeta Bal, a vaccine administered as a mist may stop the virus before it spreads to the rest of the respiratory system. However, this would partly depend on the size of the droplets. The immunologist from India believes larger droplets would train defences in areas of the mouth and neck while tiny ones would penetrate further into the body.
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