COVID vaccine nasal sprays aim to ‘shut door’ on virus

PARIS, France (AFP) — Could delivering COVID-19 immunity directly to the nose — the area of the body via which it is most likely to be transmitted — help conquer the pandemic?

The World Health Organization says clinical trials are underway to evaluate eight nasal spray vaccines that target COVID-19.

The most advanced effort so far by China’s Xiamen University, the University of Hong Kong and Beijing Wantai Biological Pharmacy has completed phase-2 trials.

“When the virus infects someone it usually gets in through the nose,” said researcher Nathalie Mielcarek who is working with the Lille Pasteur Institute to develop a nasal spray vaccine against whooping cough.

“The idea is to shut the door.”

An article published in Scientific American in March urged developing nasal spray vaccines because they have an immediate effect on the virus in an infected person’s mucus.

There they trigger production of an antibody known as immunoglobulin A, which can block infection.