A nasal COVID-19 vaccine based on technology licensed from Washington University in St. Louis has been approved for emergency use in India as a booster for people who have already received two doses of other COVID-19 vaccines. The approval follows the Indian government’s emergency use authorization in September of the vaccine as a primary series of two doses, and makes the intranasal vaccine the world’s first to receive approval as both a primary vaccine for COVID-19 and a booster.
“We are excited by the authorization of the nasal vaccine booster, which enables this intranasal vaccine to be used by many more people and hopefully will curtail transmission,” said Michael S. Diamond, MD, PhD, the Herbert S. Gasser Professor of Medicine and a professor of molecular microbiology and of pathology & immunology. Diamond co-developed the vaccine.