ASTRAZENECA'S NASAL VAX PREVENTS COVID SPREAD IN ANIMAL MODELS

Astrazeneca's intranasal Covid vaccination reduced virus concentrations and curbed transmission in two different SARSCOV2 animal models, demonstrating the need for further investigation as a potential method of inoculating Covid19 shots.the trial, led by researchers including those from the US National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the University of Oxford, UK, was published in the journal Science Translational Medicine. While previous studies in rhesus macaques revealed that intramuscular vaccination with Astrazeneca Covid shot provided protection against pneumonia, it did not reduce shedding of SARSCOV2 from the upper respiratory tract. In the new study, intranasal vaccination of rhesus macaques and hamsters resulted in reduced virus concentrations in nasal swabs and a reduction in viral loads in bronchoalveolar lavage and lower respiratory tract tissue. "The data presented supports the investigation of intranasal delivery of Covid19 vaccines. With the rollout of Covid19 vaccines worldwide, it will be crucial to investigate whether the vaccines provide sterilising immunity, or whether vaccinated people are still susceptible to infection of the upper respiratory tract and onward transmission of the virus," said Vincent J Munster, from the Laboratory of Virology at the NIH'S National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.