Bharat Biotech's intranasal vaccine to cost Rs 800 at private hospital, Rs 350 at government hospitals

Bharat Biotech on Tuesday announced the price of the country’s first intranasal vaccine, iNCOVACC, which will be used as a Covid-19 booster dose for those above 18 years of age. The Covid-19 intranasal vaccine is priced at Rs 800, excluding 5% Goods and Services Tax (GST) for private hospitals and Rs 325 for government hospitals.

According to the reports, the nasal vaccine will be used as a heterologous booster and will be available first in private hospitals. Those who have been injected with 2 doses of either Covishield or Covaxin can book Bharat Biotech’s nasal vaccine on the CoWin platform from Friday evening onward.

Bharat Biotech said in a statement that the intranasal vaccine was designed to be cost-effective in low- and middle-income countries. The approval of the nasal vaccine was announced on December 23, 2022.

The needle-free vaccine will be rolled out in the fourth week of January as a precautionary dose for those above 18 years of age. The company said the phase-III trials and heterologous trials were conducted for 14 and 9 sites across the country, respectively.

During the trials, the pharma major said, those who administered the vaccine demonstrated significant levels of antibody levels in the saliva. Mucosal IgA antibodies in the upper respiratory tract may help reduce infections and infection transmission, according to the study.

The nasal vaccine doses are stable at 2-8 degrees Celsius for easy storage and distribution, it further said.

The government approved the nasal vaccine amid the surge in Covid-19 cases in China. The most populous country is facing the world’s largest outbreak, with over 250 million people infected with the contagious virus.