We dispatched nasal vaccines to hospitals two days ago: Bharat Biotech Executive Chairman Dr Krishna Ella

By Shalini Bharadwaj
New Delhi [India], February 5 : The Bharat Biotech Pvt Ltd has started dispatching the world's first Intranasal heterologous booster dose to the hospitals, the executive chairman of Bharat Biotech, Dr Krishna Ella, informed on Sunday.
Speaking to ANI, Dr Krishna Ella said, "We just dispatched nasal vaccines two days ago to the hospitals."
He informed about the dispatch of vaccines under the bilateral agreement between UW-Madison Global Health Institute, and the Ella Foundation agreement for establishing the first-ever 'UW-Madison One Health Center' in India for advancing vaccines, therapeutics, and global health education.
Earlier, on Republic Day, Dr Krishna Ella had said, "With the rollout of iNCOVACC today, we have achieved our goal of establishing a novel vaccine delivery platform for intranasal delivery."
He said that this vaccine proves that India can innovate for itself and for the world.
"We and the country are well prepared for future COVID-19 variants and future infectious diseases. We reaffirm our commitment to India, to lead innovation and develop novel vaccine technologies for combating infectious diseases and public health globally," he added.
"We have proven these capabilities and expertise time and again with innovative vaccines such as TYPBAR TCV, ROTAVAC, JENVAC, COVAXIN and others. Bharat Biotech is a leading global developer and manufacturer of vaccines with more than 7 billion doses manufactured to date," he added.
iNCOVACC is the world's first Intranasal vaccine for COVID to receive approval for the primary 2-dose schedule, and as a heterologous booster dose, administered as nasal drops.
The vaccine does not require syringes, needles, alcohol wipes, or bandages, leading to saving costs related to procurement, distribution, storage, and biomedical waste disposal.
The vaccine is priced at Rs 325 per dose for large-volume procurements by the central and state governments.
iNCOVACC is a recombinant replication-deficient adenovirus vectored vaccine with a pre-fusion stabilized spike protein. This vaccine candidate was evaluated in phase I, II and III clinical trials with successful results.
The intranasal vaccine is stable at 2-8°C for easy storage and distribution and has been designed for efficient distribution and easy pain-free administration.
Bharat Biotech International Limited (BBIL), a global leader in vaccine innovation and developer of vaccines for infectious diseases, on Sunday dedicated iNCOVACC (BBV154) to the nation, which also happens to be the world's 1st Covid intranasal vaccine for Primary series and Heterologous booster.
The Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya launched iNCOVACC on the occasion of Republic Day in the presence of Union Minister of Science and Technology Jitendra Singh.