“There is no plan B: If Congress does not fund this, it will not happen. America will fall further behind China and other countries.” – Ashish Jha, the administration’s Covid-19 response coordinator
Biden administration officials are raising concerns that the slow pace of developing a nasal vaccine for Covid-19 in the U.S. could pose a security risk as China, Iran and Russia approve their own vaccines taken through the nose or mouth.
Officials at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases are attuned to the danger of failing to develop such a nasal vaccine since it would protect people in case of a more contagious and deadlier coronavirus variant, said Karin Bok, the acting deputy director for pandemic preparedness and emergency response at the agency’s Vaccine Research Center.
“Countries where transmission is reduced are going to be healthier, are going to have stronger economies. And the U.S. needs to catch up,” said Marty Moore, the founder and chief scientific officer of Meissa Vaccines, a small biotech company that’s trying to develop a nasal vaccine in the U.S.
Their vaccine, named iNCOVACC in India, is based on an adenovirus that delivers the coronavirus spike protein. “For example, we are looking into whether nasal vaccines could be an option for our all-in-one coronavirus vaccine program funding the development of vaccines against both Covid-19 variants and other coronaviruses,” said Melanie Saville, CEPI’s executive director of vaccine research and development.in seed funding to the Dutch company Intravacc for a nasal vaccine candidate that could work against multiple coronaviruses.
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