Needle-free intranasal vaccination could help fight Covid-19, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Wednesday after India and China approved such vaccines, writes AFP.

Intranasal vaccines, which trigger an immune response in the lining of the respiratory tract, can “provide the first line of defense where the virus goes and does a lot of damage,” Dr. Mike, director of the WHO’s emergency management program, told a news conference. Ryan.

Such vaccines “may give us a better chance of controlling Covid in the long term,” Dr Ryan said.

The WHO is encouraging the development of second- and third-generation vaccines “that we may need to fight the later phase of Covid and other viruses that can attack the respiratory tract,” he said.

However, the UN agency will wait until it has enough data on these vaccines before evaluating them and possibly officially approving them.

“We are waiting for the data to see how we can integrate it into the response to Covid-19,” said Maria Van Kerckhove, WHO’s head of epidemic control.

India approved its first intranasal Covid-19 vaccine on Tuesday, giving a new boost to its mass vaccination campaign.

The vaccine, recommended as the first dose for adults, has received emergency approval from the Drug Regulatory Authority of India.

On Sunday, China approved the world’s first inhaled vaccine, administered as an emergency booster dose via a nasal spray and developed by Chinese manufacturer CanSino Biologics.

For his part, WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said it is “dangerous” to believe that the Covid-19 epidemic will continue to decline.

“Last week, one person died every 44 seconds. Most of these deaths could have been prevented,” he said.

“You may be tired of hearing me say that the epidemic is not over, but I will continue to say it until it is,” he added.

Photo: Dreamstime