NEW DELHI: India on Tuesday approved a locally developed, needle-free and nasally administered Covid-19 vaccine for emergency use, in a boost to the country’s homegrown pharmaceutical industry.
The new inoculation was developed by Bharat Biotech, which had already developed an intravenous product greenlit by the World Health Organization last November.
India’s drug regulator gave the new product emergency authorization on Tuesday, which will allow it to be used as a primary dose by any unvaccinated or partially vaccinated adult, but not as a booster.
“This step will further strengthen our collective fight against the pandemic,” health minister Mansukh Mandaviya said on Twitter.
Bharat Biotech said in a statement last month that it had conducted two successful efficacy trials for the vaccine.
Data from the trials has yet to be given a wider release and it remains unclear when the product will be available for public use.
The announcement comes just two days after China launched the world’s first inhalable coronavirus vaccine, Convidecia Air, which is administered through a nebulizer.
India was hit by a devastating spike in Covid cases last year that brought its health care system close to collapse, with oxygen supplies running out and patients scrambling to source medicine from depleted pharmacies.
More than 200,000 people died within a few weeks, according to official figures, though experts believe the real toll is several times higher.
India has since administered more than two billion vaccine doses, fully inoculating more than two-thirds of its 1.4 billion population.
India approves its first nasal vaccine for Covid-19
https://arab.news/jbbkt
India approves its first nasal vaccine for Covid-19
- The new inoculation was developed by Bharat Biotech
- India's drug regulator gave the new product emergency authorisation on Tuesday
Tanzania president remorseful over Internet shutdown on election day
- President Samia Suluhu Hassan on Thursday expressed “sympathy” to diplomats and foreign nationals living in the country
- Violence broke out on election day and went on for days as the Internet was shut down
DODOMA, Tanzania: Tanzania’s president has, for the first time since the disputed October election, commented on a six-day Internet shutdown as the country went through its worst postelection violence.
President Samia Suluhu Hassan on Thursday expressed “sympathy” to diplomats and foreign nationals living in the country, saying the government would strive to ensure there is never a repeat of the same.
Hassan won the October election with more than 97 percent of the vote after candidates from the two main opposition parties were barred from running and the country’s main opposition leader remained in prison facing treason charges.
Violence broke out on election day and went on for days as the Internet was shut down amid a heavy police crackdown that left hundreds of people dead, according to rights groups.
Hassan blamed the violence on foreigners and pardoned hundreds of young people who had been arrested, saying they were acting under peer pressure.
Speaking to ambassadors, high commissioners and representatives of international organizations on Thursday in the capital, Dodoma, she sought to reassure envoys of their safety, saying the government would remain vigilant to prevent a repeat of the disruption.
“To our partners in the diplomatic community and foreigners residing here in Tanzania, I express my sincere sympathy for the uncertainty, service restrictions and Internet shutdowns you experienced,” she said.
Hassan defended her administration, saying the measures were taken to preserve constitutional order and protect citizens.
“I assure you that we will remain vigilant to ensure your safety and prevent any recurrence of such experiences,” the president told diplomats on Thursday.
Tanzania has, since the October elections, established a commission of inquiry to look into the violence that left hundreds dead and property worth millions of shillings destroyed in a country that has enjoyed relative calm for decades.
Foreign observers said the election failed to meet democratic standards because key opposition figures were barred.
