Kolkata: NICED proposes research on oral Cov vax for greater reach

An oral vaccine against Covid could become a reality in the near future. Kolkata-based ICMR-NICED has proposed a research project to develop an oral vaccine, which many scientists and health experts said could be the next-generation Covid vaccine. The proposal has been submitted to the department of biotechnology under the ministry of science and technology.

“The proposed project will be in collaboration with a German firm. We have submitted our research proposal. Once selected and funded, we can start working on it,” said ICMR-NICED director Shanta Dutta.

All vaccines in the current inoculation drive in India, as well as elsewhere, are injectable and researchers have started working on developing a nasal spray vaccine against the virus.

“An oral vaccine, if proved effective, would be much easier in terms of administering and reaching the masses. So it is good that an initiative is being taken to develop one after similar steps to develop a nasal vaccine,” said clinical trial specialist Santanu Tripathi, former head of clinical and experimental pharmacology at School of Tropical Medicine.

Health experts said the Covid-19 virus is not going to disappear soon. Even if the pandemic gets over, it will continue to stay in an endemic stage and people will need vaccine protection periodically.

“In addition to efficacy, acceptability is very important when it comes to successful mass inoculation drives. A glaring example is that of the polio vaccine, which became more acceptable and the drive gained the much-required momentum when the oral drops were introduced,” said Dipika Sur, a former scientist with ICMR.

Apart from the polio vaccine, some other vaccines that took off in the injectable form but were later developed into oral versions include vaccines against rotavirus, thyroid, cholera and adenovirus.

“Some vaccines originally developed in an injectable form already have oral versions. While developing an oral vaccine against Covid is a great initiative, the oral route of administering it could be challenging as there is limited data available on fecal-oral transmission,” said Peerless Hospital Clinical Research and Academics director Subhrojyoti Bhowmick.

The NICED proposal has been shortlisted for presentation. If the project gets sanctioned, the vaccine will be developed in the laboratory and tried on animals first.

“Once approved and funded, it will undergo all processes of vaccine development and all phases of clinical trial for safety and immunogenicity. From the laboratory to the market, a vaccine takes five to six years. Therefore, if everything goes well, we can expect an oral Covid vaccine in the near future,” said Dutta.