Russia registers ‘world’s first’ nasal version of COVID vaccine

Russia’s health ministry has registered its first – and the world’s first – nasal version of COVID-19 vaccine.

News agency TASS said in January that the nasal version would be available in Russia in three to four months. It quoted Alexander Gintsburg, the director of the Gamaleya Centre, a research institute that manufactures Sputnik V.

The second phase of clinical trials was authorised by the ministry back in October 2021.

Gintsburg told TASS that laboratory tests of Sputnik V had shown protection against Omicron in its injection form and would also be effective in the nasal form.

In India, Sputnik V was first administered in Hyderabad in May 2021. The first consignment of the vaccine had landed on May 1 and went on to receive regulatory clearance on May 13, 2021, from the Central Drugs Laboratory.