Kathimerini Greece Newsroom
Canadian scientists comparing two different alternative vaccine delivery systems confirmed that inhaled aerosol vaccines provide better protection and stronger immunity than nasal spray vaccines.
While nasal sprays primarily reach the nose and throat, inhalants bypass the nasal passage and allow vaccine droplets to penetrate deep into the lungs, where they can trigger a broader immune response, according to the new research.
About 6.3 million people have died during the pandemic. That is why there is an urgent need to develop vaccines that will not be administered intravenously, but directly into the respiratory tract.
McMaster University researchers, led by pandemic virus expert Dr. Matthew Miller, who published the relevant publication in the immunology journal Frontiers in Immunology, used a tuberculosis vaccine to compare the two alternative delivery methods (relative to injectable vaccines), confirming that delivery to the lungs is more effective and therefore preferable.
“Upper respiratory infections tend not to be serious. But when infections are caused by viruses like the flu or the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus, the virus gets deep into the lungs, and that's when you get really sick. "The immune response created when the vaccine is delivered deep into the lungs is much stronger than when the vaccine material stays in the nose and throat," Miller said.
About 6.3 million people have died during the Covid-19 pandemic, and respiratory infections remain a major cause of illness and death worldwide. That is why there is an urgent need to develop vaccines that will not be administered intravenously, but directly into the respiratory tract. The new study provides strong evidence that this is better done orally than through the nose.
Already McMaster scientists have developed a unique inhaled form of vaccine against Covid-19, believing that inhaled vaccines will be the best defense against future pandemics. A phase 1 clinical trial is underway to evaluate the inhaled vaccine in healthy adults who have previously had two or three doses of mRNA vaccine against the coronavirus.
Nasal flu shots have been shown to be very effective in children, but much less so in adults, so injectable flu shots are by far the most popular choice for seasonal flu vaccination.
Link to the scientific publication: https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fimmu.2022.860399/full
