Research on Covid-19 vaccine nasal spray advances

A group of researchers from the Medical School of the University of São Paulo (USP) is confident about producing a coronavirus vaccine in the form of a nasal spray, which the school has been developing in partnership with the Heart Institute (InCor). According to finance website Exame, if successful, the vaccine may be available in 2021.

The technology for the nasal spray vaccine borrows from technology previously used by researchers against hepatitis B and that proved to be successful in mice, according to Jornal da USP, a campus publication.

To ensure immunity, the vaccine would require four applications, two in each nostril every 15 days. Researchers estimated the cost for the population would be around BRL 100, as reported by Jornal da USP. 

The nasal spray being researched by USP adds to the pool of immunity solutions being developed worldwide. In Brazil, Sinovac Biotech, a privately-held Beijing-based lab working on a potential vaccine, has partnered with Butantan Biological Institute, based in São Paulo. It is now in the third phase of trials.

There is also another ongoing agreement for the Brazilian government to develop and produce a coronavirus vaccine being developed by the British pharmaceutical firm AstraZeneca and Oxford University, and already being tested in Brazil.

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