A non-injectable COVID-19 vaccine is in the works

COVID-19 vaccines are already available and are being rolled out as we speak. This has become a milestone for science as this is the only time in our history that a vaccine is deployed for mass production in the shortest possible time.

But there are uncertainties tied to the rushed deployment of these vaccines for human consumption that is why continuing research and development are active today to develop new generation of vaccines that will even increase the effectivity of current vaccines and help combat future variants of COVID-19 as they are currently happening due to the seemingly unending transmission of the virus.

All of the COVID-19 vaccines that we have so far are introduced to the body through injection and this has some disadvantages from which the main concern here is the discomfort in brings to the patient. However, a team of researchers from Finland have developed a new type of vaccine and that it didn’t have to be injected.

Finland’s Rokote Laboratories is developing a nasal spray vaccine, the technology is nothing new, in fact, a number of Flu vaccines are available through nasal sprays and they are found to be as effective as those administered through injection.

The vaccine from the spray itself is developed by a team of researchers from the University of Helsinki and the University of Eastern Finland and is based on gene transfer technology. This technology has been used in clinical trials were gene therapy targeted cardiovascular diseases and cancer.

The vaccine uses a adenovirus carrier, a safe transport system which contains a cloned DNA strand that elicit an immune response on the nasopharyngeal cells to produce the virus protein. There is no actual SARS-COV-2 in the vaccine, which has the similar approach as other vaccines currently available in the market such as from Pfizer and AstraZeneca.

Vaccines through intramuscular injection produces IgG antibodies and they can be said true with injectable COVID-19 vaccines. Nasal spray vaccines on the other hand not only produce IgG antibodies but also IgA antibodies that protects the mucous membrane and the researchers are assumes that such immune response not only protect the person from contracting the virus but also prevent them transmitting the virus.

The newly found company is seeking funding to advance the project to clinical trials and they are expected to take place in Finland but the question is when. However if the clinical trials returns positive results it could be then manufactured for use.