Covid 19 nasal vaccine: iNCOVACC

NASAL COVID-19 Vaccine is a recombinant is indicated for active immunization against Coronavirus infection (SARS-CoV-2) COVID-19 for age ≥ 18 years for restricted use in emergency situation in public interest. It is adenovirus vaccine and vector based for nasal administration.

Nasal vaccine is given as two separate doses of 0.5mL (8 drops, 4 drops in each nostril). The second dose should be administered after 28 days (4 weeks from the first dose). It is advised to keep your head back as far as possible and keep it that way for 30- seconds Repeat in another nostril.

Vials used for administration are kept at a temperature of 2-8 degrees . the vaccine is expected to provide immunity to may produce local antibodies in the upper respiratory tract which may provide the potential to reduce infection and transmission.

Special warnings and precautions are :

As with other vaccines, administration of iNCOVACC should be postponed in individuals suffering from an acute severe febrile illness/acute infection.

iNCOVACC should be given with caution to individuals with thrombocytopenia, coagulation disorder or to persons on anticoagulation therapy

Immunocompromised individuals: It is not known whether individuals with impaired immune responsiveness, including individuals receiving immunosuppressant therapy may not generate a full immune response,. Data is not available regarding the same.

Efficay :Nasal vaccine has been evaluated and shown satisfactory immune response against several variants of such as Delta, Beta and Omicron including the recent variant BA.5. Cell mediated immune response, both T and B cell phenotype distribution is evaluated against SARS-CoV-2 variants including omicron variants found the response is persistent across variants.