By Casey Hall
SHANGHAIOctober 28 – China’s commercial capital Shanghai this week introduced a new type of flu vaccine. COVID-19 which is inhaled rather than administered by injection, making it the first type of serum of its kind in the world.
Chinese authorities in September approved the vaccine, manufactured by the Chinese pharmaceutical company CanSino Biologics, for use as a booster.
And now the first people are starting to get the vaccine, which is inhaled through the mouth from a container that looks like a cup of coffee with a short spout.
“Our body’s first line of defense is the mucous membrane of our respiratory system; we want to directly stimulate it to improve immunity and that is what the inhaled vaccine does, “Dr. Zhao Hui, medical director of Shanghai Pudong United Family Hospital, told Reuters.
Your hospital is one of those who administer the new vaccine, which will be used in addition to the usual injections.
Erwin Loh, medical director of St. Vincents Health Australia, said the arrival of inhaled vaccines is important not only for their potential to protect against infection, but also because it could reduce vaccine hesitation.
“There is a large percentage of people who are reluctant to get vaccinated because they have a phobia of needles. They may not express it, but that’s what they have in mind, “she said.
Increased vaccine adoption is vital for China, which remains an outlier around the world as it adheres to its “zero infection” policy, which aims to eliminate virus outbreaks in the community.
Shanghai, which reported no new nationally transmitted symptomatic coronavirus cases and 11 local asymptomatic cases on October 27, continues to be subject to targeted lockdowns affecting the city’s residential buildings and businesses.
The Shanghai government’s WeChat account, announcing the launch of the inhalable vaccine this week, said 23 million of the city’s 26 million residents had been fully vaccinated against the virus. COVID-19 and more than 12 million had received booster doses.
According to official Chinese government data, over 90% of its population has been vaccinated. The country has relied on domestically produced inactivated vaccines and has yet to import or introduce its own version of an mRNA vaccine. The inhalable vaccine is an aerosol version of an inactive injection.
Loh hopes the results of Shanghai’s foray into inhalable vaccines will encourage other countries to follow suit.
“I believe inhaled vaccines for respiratory diseases, like the COVID-19, will be the future, ”he said.
