The head scientist of the World Health Organization expressed excitement on Tuesday about the “second generation” of Covid-19 vaccinations, which might include nasal sprays and oral formulations.
Such vaccinations, according to Soumya Swaminathan, might be more effective than the present crop since they would be easier to give than injections and could even be self-administered.
According to Swaminathan, 129 candidate vaccines have progressed to clinical trials, where they are being tested on humans, while 194 are still in the early stages of research and are being worked on in laboratories.
“This covers the entire range of technologies,” she told a live interaction on WHO social media channels.
“They’re still in development. I’m sure some of them will prove to be very safe and efficacious and others may not.
“There could be advantages to some of the second-generation vaccines… clearly if you have an oral vaccine or an intra-nasal vaccine this is easier to deliver than an injectable.
“Ultimately we’ll be able to choose the ones that are most appropriate.
“If not for Covid, we’re going to use these platforms for other infections in the future.”
Swaminathan explained the advantages of a vaccine being sprayed into the nose, as happens in some countries with influenza vaccines.
“If there’s a local immune response then it will take care of the virus before it even goes and establishes itself in the lungs and starts causing a problem,” she said.
The WHO has only given emergency use authorisation to seven Covid-19 vaccines: those created by Pfizer/BioNTech, Moderna, AstraZeneca, Johnson & Johnson, Sinopharm, Sinovac, and last week Bharat Biotech.
“None of the vaccines are 100 percent. Nobody has ever claimed that the vaccines are going to be 100 percent protective. But 90 percent is a wonderful amount of protection to have, compared to zero,” Swaminathan said.
