Vaccinations against COVID-19 could be delivered via the nose for patients who are scared of needles.
Research from Griffith University in NSW, published in Nature Communications, has been testing the efficacy of delivering a coronavirus vaccine via the nasal passages.
The university said it was “set to be a gamechanger” not only for delivering the vaccine itself, but also for people who were needle-phobic.
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Professor Suresh Mahalingam from Griffith’s Institute for Biomedicine and Glycomics has been working on the research for four years.
“It’s been designed to be administered as single dose, ideally as a booster vaccine, as a safe alternative to needles with no adverse reactions in the short or long term,” Mahalingam said,
Lead author Dr Xiang Liu said the vaccine provided cross-protection against all variants of concern.
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“The vaccine offers potent protection against transmission, prevents reinfection and the spread of the virus, while also reducing the generation of new variants,” Dr Liu said.
“Unlike the mRNA vaccine which targets only the spike protein, CDO-7N-1 induces immunity to all major SARS-CoV-2 proteins and is highly effective against all major variants to date.
“Importantly, the vaccine remains stable at four degrees for seven months, making it ideal for low- and middle-income countries.”
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The vaccine has been licensed to Indian Immunologicals Ltd, a major vaccine manufacturer.
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