Are nasal sprays the answer to stopping Covid transmission?

With the virus rampant despite jabs, trials are underway to create intranasal vaccines to block infections from the body.

  Covid: hopes for Oxford nasal vaccine dealt blow after poor trial results

Scientists ditch plans to develop nasal spray version of Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine in its current form.

 China approves world’s first nasal COVID-19 vaccine booster

CanSino’s formulation contains pieces of COVID-19’s genetic material so the body can recognize the virus, similar to how the vaccines in the United States work. However, this vaccine uses a benign version of the common cold virus to carry information about the virus, instead of introducing the material directly like the Moderna or Pfizer vaccines do.

 COVID: inhalable and nasal vaccines could offer more durable protection than regular shots

Mucosal vaccines are designed to target this “mucosal immune system”. The mucosal immune system has the potential to stop the virus in its tracks when it enters the body, so scientists predict that mucosal vaccines could prevent infection.

 Scientists hope nasal vaccines will help halt Covid transmission

Unlike jabs, nasal vaccines target the respiratory tract, the body’s first line of defence against infection

 The Answer to Stopping the Coronavirus May Be Up Your Nose

The currently available Covid-19 vaccines are injected into people’s arm muscles and are highly capable at combating the virus once people are infected. But they are not as successful at preventing people from getting infected to begin with. To do that, you ideally want to stop a virus from spreading right at the site where people get infected: the nasal cavity.

 Why we need to be talking about vaccines that offer "mucosal immunity"

Next-generation nasal or oral vaccines could quickly boost the immune response in the very airways where COVID-19 enters the body and ultimately break our reliance on the constant development of reformulated shots to target new variants of concern.

Mucosal vaccines — fortifying the frontiers

Mucosal vaccines offer the significant benefit of triggering immune responses at the principal sites of infection, offering scope for sterilizing immunity achieved by local secretory antibody responses and resident populations of CD4+ and CD8+ T cells.

Asia to Roll Out First Inhaled and Nasal-Spray Covid Vaccines

New vaccines are far less studied than existing Covid-19 shots, as regulators in China and India are first to give the green light

COVID-19 intranasal vaccines: current progress, advantages, prospects, and challenges

COVID-19 intranasal (IN) vaccines are also being developed that have shown promising ability to induce a significant amount of antibody-mediated immune response and a robust cell-mediated immunity as well as hold the added ability to stimulate protective mucosal immunity along with the additional advantage of the ease of administration as compared to IM injected vaccines.

Dry Nasal Covid-19 Vaccines: A Pain- and Needle-Free Alternative

We are honoring the top eight winners of our Student STEM Writing Contest by publishing their essays. This one is by Amy Ge.

From nasal vaccines to pills: the next defences against Covid

Scientists hope nasal vaccines, similar to those used for seasonal flu, could overcome this shortcoming and help weaken the chain of transmission and reduce the continued impact of Covid.

How nasal-spray vaccines could change the pandemic

Vaccines inhaled through the mouth or nose might stop the coronavirus in its tracks, although there’s little evidence from human trials so far.

Intranasal COVID-19 vaccine fails to induce mucosal immunity

Unfortunately, only a small fraction of the previously unvaccinated participants showed substantial induction of mucosal immunoglobulin A (IgA) or IgG directed against spike protein after the first nasal vaccination, irrespective of the dose.

Nasal Vaccines May Not Be The Game Changer We Think They Are

Almost all Covid infections begin with nasal exposure. We now know that such exposure does not offer long-lasting protection from re-infection, much less protection from new variants as they arise. If natural intranasal exposure does not give the protection we hope for, why should a vaccine administered via the same route do so?

The Covid Vaccine We Need Now May Not Be a Shot

Nasal vaccines under development around the world may make better boosters by stopping the coronavirus in the airways.

Why isn’t there a nasal vaccine for Covid-19 yet?

If we want to prevent mild Covid infections, we’re going to need vaccines that protect us where infections start: in the mucus membranes of the nose, mouth, and throat. And for that, we’re likely going to need intranasal vaccines. A number of research groups and companies are working on Covid-19 vaccines that would be delivered intranasally, but the development process is tricky.

Will Covid-19 Vaccine Nasal Sprays Be the Pandemic Game-Changer We Need?

Promising results from a study at Yale University are still undergoing peer-review — but offer hope for managing Covid-19 in the future.

You’d Rather Get a Coronavirus Vaccine Through Your Nose

Some experts say a vaccine puffed in the nose would be better at protecting people from infection. But nasal vaccines won’t be ready right away.