We All Love Tablets
Every Covid vaccine like Covaxin, Covishield, Sputnik, Moderna, and Johnson and Johnson that we are familiar with are in liquid form, and are given through injection. There are a lot of people on Indian social media channels like Connected app who ask why can’t we have a Covid vaccine in tablet form. Well! People are usually scared of jabs, and we can understand their discomfort level. However, is there a possibility in the future that Covid19 vaccines can be given through an inhaler or even a tablet?
Powder Vaccine In The Making
There is this chemist Ingemo Andersson who has a thin plastic inhaler the size of a matchbox in an airy white-coloured lab at Medikon Village, one of southern Sweden’s largest science parks. His team sincerely believes that in future, this small device can play a big role in the fight against Covid19. By using this, it will be possible to take a vaccine in the powder form at home itself.
According to Johan Bavorg, CEO of a company manufacturing inhalers for asthma patients, it will be cheap and easy to manufacture. All you need to do is remove the small plastic slip and the vaccine inhaler will be activated. You can inhale the vaccine by holding it in your mouth and breathing deeply.
Powder vaccine is no more just an idea as Iconovo, a Stockholm-based startup in immunology research in collaboration with ISR has successfully developed such a vaccine. This vaccine uses protein from Covid-19 virus. It can withstand a temperature of maximum forty degree Celsius. While vaccines from Pfizer, Moderna and AstraZeneca are based on RNA and DNA technology.
All vaccines for Covid19 that have been approved by the World Health Organization are in liquid form. They should ideally be stored in deep freezers by keeping them in vials at temperatures up to -70°C.
Advantages of Powder Vaccine
The biggest advantage of powder vaccines is they can be easily distributed at normal temperature without having a need to maintain a cold chain. According to Ola Winquist, founder of ISR, the powder vaccine can be taken even without the help of a health worker. Ola’s company is currently testing their vaccine on beta variant in South Africa, and alpha variant of Covid-19 in UK. The company hopes that it can help with the vaccination exercise in South Africa, where currently there is no indigenous vaccine producer.
However, the major pharmaceutical companies haven’t come forward and replied whether this particular project is related to Covid19 vaccine or for some other diseases. But a spokesperson has acknowledged that this research is indeed focused on developing a new technology that can be used in future vaccine storage. The powder form of the vaccine will also be helpful to those who are afraid of getting a needle.
Moreover, the powder vaccine will also provide an environmentally better alternative by reducing the electricity consumption to run the deep freezers. Because liquid vaccine vials are usually kept in deep freezers that consume a large amount of electricity to operate. Besides, the vaccine can be easily delivered to every part of the world.
Manufacturing capacity
Challenges for Powder Vaccine
The weather in South Africa is quite hot and the power supply is also erratic. Due to these factors, there are multiple challenges in the vaccination process. This vaccine from ISR is yet to undergo trials on human beings. It is still not established whether it will be able to provide adequate protection against the current delta variant or not. So far, they have tested the vaccine only on rats. However, Ikonvo and ISR have secured the necessary funds to start trials on humans in the next two months.
It will be a Game Changer
However, there is a lot of enthusiasm among the global medical community about this particular vaccine. The vaccine might prove a real game changer by providing a revolutionary weapon in the fight against the COVID pandemic. It’s common sense that the storage and distribution of the vaccine will become much easier.
According to Stephen Svartling Petersen, Professor of Global Transformation Health in Carolinas, the vaccine could save thousands of people in highly inaccessible areas. Currently, a number of companies around the world are working on the idea of powder vaccines. Swartling also talked about Xycam, another startup close to Iconovo which is also testing a new technology that will allow future liquid vaccines to be air-dried without decreasing their efficacy.
If such a technology is developed, then in developing countries, smaller filling and packaging centers can be established where the vaccine can be filled in vials. This way, the final phase of vaccine production can take place in the countries where it’s likely to be used .
Vaccination can be still done through injections by mixing the vaccine powder with sterile water solution.
According to Goran Konradsen, company’s CEO, the technology will create new possibilities such as the vaccine can be given either through the nose or in tablet form.
Ingrid Kroman, the spokeswoman for CEPI (Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovation), a global NGO working towards increasing the vaccine production worldwide says that to end Coronavirus globally, we must have the ability to deliver vaccines to every part of the world.
She thinks powder-based vaccines are still in the early stages of development, because there is still a lot of work to be done in this direction. But she also agreed that if the idea is successful, it will be easier to access vaccines, and will also reduce the wastage of vaccines. At the same time, it will be easier to distribute, and also reduce the cost of vaccination.
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