India gets its first nasal vaccine today; to cost Rs 325 in govt and Rs 800 in private hospitals

India got its first nasal vaccine for Covid on its 74th Republic Day today. Union Health Minister Dr Mansukh Mandaviya and Science and Technology Minister Jitendra Singh launched inCOVACC at the Union Health Minister’s residence in New Delhi.

The nasal vaccine manufactured by Bharat Biotech, will be available in private hospitals for Rs 800 per shot and in government hospitals for Rs 325 per shot. The booster dose nasal vaccine would be available from the first week of February, the government said.

The nasal vaccine got approval for the primary 2-dose schedule and as a heterologous booster dose in December 2022.

Before that, the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO) had approved the restricted use of the intranasal vaccine in emergency situations in the age group of 18 and above.

Two doses of the vaccine are to be given 28 days apart.

Earlier, Dr Krishna Ella, Executive Chairman, after getting approvals last year said, “We have achieved the goals we set for ourselves during this pandemic. We have developed COVAXIN and iNCOVACC, two COVID vaccines from two different platforms, with two different delivery systems. The vectored intranasal delivery platform gives us the capability for rapid product development, scale-up, easy and painless immunization during public health emergencies and pandemics. We thank the Ministry of Health, CDSCO, Dept of Biotechnology, Govt of India, Technology Development Board, and Washington University, St Louis, for their support and guidance.”

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