A week after introducing the iNCOVACC nasal vaccine on the CoWIN portal adding a precautionary model to fight the possible incoming menace of COVID, the country’s COVID taskforce chief has taken a different route on the move saying the Nasal Vaccine can’t be administered to those who have taken the precautionary dose or booster dose while interacting with a news channel over preparedness to fight COVID wave.
During the conversation, Dr. NK Arora said, "It (nasal vaccine) is recommended as the first booster. For example, if a person has already received a precautionary dose, it is not recommended for that person. It is for those who have not yet taken a precautionary dose.
Dr. Arora is the chairman of the Covid Working Group of NTAGI, which works on the introduction of new vaccines and strengthening the universal immunization program.
He went on to say, "As part of the program, no. CoWIN (portal) will not accept the fourth dose," he said during the conversation when asked whether a person who has taken a booster dose can take the nasal vaccine.
Adding further over the question he said, "Let us assume you want to take another fourth dose. There is a concept that is called 'antigen sink'. If a person is repeatedly immunized with a particular type of antigen, the body stops responding or responds poorly. And that is why initially mRNA vaccines are given with a gap of six months. Later on, people started taking the three-month gap. But it has not helped too much in that case. Therefore, at the moment taking a fourth dose is of no value," Dr. Arora said.
How does Nasal Vaccine work?
The entry point of the vaccine is our respiratory system which is the nose and mouth where the immune system develops a sort of roadblock that stops the passage of the virus by not letting it into our body.
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Moreover, it does not just help in fighting COVID but is also efficient in fighting all types of respiratory viruses and infections, an idea which has previously also been highlighted by experts on the matter.
On the question about the availability for people he further added, “Anybody above the age of 18 years can get the nasal vaccine. "It's very simple. Four drops in each nostril, a total of 0.5 ml are to be administered. That's it. And it has very few adverse events except for some nasal blockage for a short while, otherwise, whatever the data is, it is an extremely safe vaccine.”
"For this vaccine, as with any other vaccine, we need to wait for 15 to 30 minutes in case if there is a reaction it can be taken care of immediately, although there were no reports in whatever data we have seen," he said.
Whether or not people need to take the booster dose of the nasal vaccine, Dr. Arora has set aside the compulsion saying, scientifically there is no evidence that says there is a requirement for further vaccines.
Citing an example overtaking more doses of vaccine he said, “Even in countries where people have taken three, four or five doses of vaccine, particularly these mRNA vaccines in North America and Europe, but they continue to suffer from the infection."