The first inhalable Covid vaccine is available in China
It's called Convidecia Air and it promises to be effective after just one puff. All the details on the first inhalable Covid vaccine produced in China by CanSinoBIO
In China, the administration of the first inhalable Covid vaccine, Convidecia Air, has started. This is not a real spray as it must be sucked from a container that according to the description of Reuters "looks like a cup of take-away coffee with a small nozzle".
Beijing authorities had already approved this version of the vaccine produced by the Chinese pharmaceutical company CanSinoBIO as a booster in September , but last week Shanghai started offering it to citizens.
Even Malaysia, writes Agi citing local media, has given the green light to Convidecia Air.
HOW THE INHALING VACCINE WORKS
"The first line of defense of our body is the mucous membrane of the respiratory system, which we want to directly stimulate to improve immunity and the use of the inhaled vaccine is just for this," Dr. Zhao Hui explained to Reuters . , director of the Shanghai United Family Pudong Hospital, one of the hospitals where the novelty is available in addition to the already known injection vaccines strictly made in China.
The vaccine is inhaled directly through a dispenser into the patient's airways. This technique mimics the natural path of infection of the Covid-19 respiratory virus and can create additional benefits by generating mucosal immunity.
EFFECTIVENESS
CanSinoBIO assures that a puff of Convidecia Air, the aerosol version of the Convidecia one-shot adenovirus vaccine already produced by the same pharmaceutical company, is enough to "effectively induce complete immune protection in response to SARS-CoV-2".
The pharmaceutical company also states that "studies published in The Lancet have indicated that Convidecia Air can induce strong humoral, cellular and mucosal immunity to achieve triple protection and effectively contain the infection and spread of the virus".
The trial also found that heterologous immunization resulted in significantly fewer adverse reactions.
THE ADVANTAGES OF AN INHALABLE VACCINE
Inhaled inoculation requires considerably less vaccine than injectable administration and therefore should allow for large-scale vaccination of the population in an efficient, affordable and accessible way everywhere.
Furthermore, for Beijing, increasing adherence to vaccinations is essential to achieve the unattainable “zero Covid” strategy.
VACCINATION IN CHINA
According to official Chinese government data cited by Reuters , over 90% of the population has been vaccinated even though several studies have questioned the effectiveness of traditional vaccines compared to mRna vaccines, which China did not want to buy from other countries. and has not yet managed to produce its own.
In Shanghai, still trapped in restrictions and lockdowns despite not registering any new symptomatic cases on October 27, the government's WeChat account, in addition to informing about the launch of the new vaccine, has announced that 23 of the 26 million residents of the city have completed the vaccination and more than 12 million have received the booster.
WHAT END THE IRISH AEROGEN DONE?
On December 9, 2021, Aerogen – an Irish company in the administration of high-performance aerosol drugs supported by Enterprise Ireland, the government agency for the development of trade and innovation – had announced the collaboration with CanSinoBIO precisely for the realization of a inhalable vaccine, but there has been no news of the partnership since.
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/sanita/in-cina-e-disponibile-il-primo-vaccino-anti-covid-inalabile/ on Thu, 03 Nov 2022 10:08:04 +0000.