A small spray in to the nose could protect people from COVID-19 and hamstring the pandemic, but the science still faces major challenges.
Current vaccines are great at stopping us getting seriously ill and dying.Several vaccines are in late-stage trials.Vaccines sprayed inside the nose could hold the key to stopping the COVID-19 waves the world continues to battle, scientists say – if some key challenges can be overcome.Associate Professor Nathan Bartlett has been working on an immune-stimulating nasal spray that is hoped will protect against viral infections including COVID-19 .
But viruses have evolved tricks of their own, allowing them to infect the cells and use its molecular machinery to copy itself over and over before spreading down into the lungs and the rest of the body. At least eight nasal vaccines for COVID-19 are in development, according to the World Health Organisation.of Tetherex’s nasal COVID-19 vaccine SC-Ad6-1 led by the University of Queensland’s Associate Professor Paul Griffin. The spray contains a harmless virus modified to look like SARS-CoV-2. The virus infects nose cells and replicates – theoretically prompting the immune system into a strong response.
The nose is constantly exposed to viruses, bacteria and pollution, so every time we breathe in, immune cells there are much less aggressive than in other parts of the body.