Nasal Vaccine

Context

Bharat Biotech’s nasal vaccine, iNCOVACC gets government’s nod as booster shot against Covid-19.
The nasal vaccine — BBV154 — received approval from the Drugs Controller General of India in November for restricted use in an emergency for those above 18 as a heterologous booster dose.
This will be India’s first such needleless jab.

Intra nasal Vaccine

For intranasal administration, the vaccine is sprayed into the nostrils and inhaled nasally.
The vaccine uses a modified chimpanzee adenovirus, which cannot replicate in the body, to carry the Covid spike protein to induce immunity.
It is stable at 2-8°C, which makes it easy to store and distribute.

How the nasal vaccine works

- When a vaccine is administered to a human body, the B cells in the blood start churning out antibodies.
- The most important of these are called IgG antibodies. They search for the virus in the body and, with the help of T cells, destroy the infected cells.
- B cells, however, also reside around the mucosal tissues.
- When a nasal vaccine is administered, they form another type of antibody, IgA.

Also, they memorise the pathogen and prevent it from entering the body ever again.

Vaccines

A vaccine is a biological preparation that provides active acquired immunity to a particular infectious or malignant disease.
A vaccine typically contains an agent that resembles a disease-causing microorganism and is often made from weakened or killed forms of the microbe, its toxins, or one of its surface proteins.

Vaccine Types

Live vaccines use a weakened (or attenuated) form of the germ that causes a disease.
Live vaccines are used to protect against Measles, mumps, rubella (MMR combined vaccine), Rotavirus, Smallpox, Chickenpox

mRNA vaccines make proteins in order to trigger an immune response.
mRNA vaccines have several benefits compared to other types of vaccines, including shorter manufacturing times and, because they do not contain a live virus, no risk of causing disease in the person getting vaccinated.
mRNA vaccines are used to protect against COVID-19

Subunit, recombinant, polysaccharide, and conjugate vaccines use specific pieces of the germ—like its protein, sugar, or capsid (a casing around the germ).
Because these vaccines use only specific pieces of the germ, they give a very strong immune response that’s targeted to key parts of the germ.
These vaccines are used to protect against Hib (Haemophilus influenzae type b) disease, Hepatitis B, HPV (Human papillomavirus), Whooping cough (part of the DTaP combined vaccine), Pneumococcal disease

Viral vector vaccines use a modified version of a different virus as a vector to deliver protection.
Several different viruses have been used as vectors, including influenza, vesicular stomatitis virus (VSV), measles virus, and adenovirus, which causes the common cold.

Toxoid vaccines use a toxin (harmful product) made by the germ that causes a disease.
They create immunity to the parts of the germ that cause a disease instead of the germ itself.
Toxoid vaccines are used to protect against Diphtheria, Tetanus

Drug Controller General of India

The Drug Controller General of India (DCGI) is the head of the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO) in India.
DCGI is responsible for approval of licences of specified categories of drugs.
Drugs Controller General of India comes under the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare.
DCGI also sets standards for manufacturing, sales, import, and distribution of drugs in India.

Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation

The Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation(CDSCO) under the Directorate General of Health Services,Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, is the National Regulatory Authority (NRA) of India.
The Drugs & Cosmetics Act,1940 and rules 1945 have entrusted various responsibilities to central & state regulators for regulation of drugs & cosmetics.
Under the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, CDSCO is responsible for approval of New Drugs, Conduct of Clinical Trials, laying down the standards for Drugs, control over the quality of imported Drugs in the country and coordination of the activities of State Drug Control Organizations.

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