UK Tests Whether Inhalation of COVID-19 Vaccine Works Better Than Injection

Scientists in the U.K. are testing COVID-19 vaccine candidates to see if an inhaled vaccine works more effectively than an injectable vaccine.

COVID-19 vaccine trials will be underway at the Imperial College London and the University of Oxford to demonstrate the safety and effectiveness of an inhaled vaccine, according to the Independent. Candidates in the COVID-19 vaccine studies will inhale the immunization into their mouths rather than being injected.

“The hope is that directly targeting the cells lining the airways – the typical point of infection for respiratory viruses – may induce a more effective immune response against the Sars-CoV-2 virus,” the Medical Research Council (MRC) said in a statement, according to the Independent.

Imperial College London’s Dr. Chris Chiu is will be leading the COVID-19 vaccine studies.

The Independent reported that Chiu said inhaled vaccines show evidence of protecting people from getting sick and preventing the spread of viruses. Scientists are hopeful the COVID-19 vaccine could work the same way.

The study will include 30 participants and will test inhaled vaccines created by both Imperial College London and Oxford University, according to an Associated Press report. There are already larger ongoing studies at Imperial and Oxford to create a COVID-19 vaccine, but the new study will specifically testing to see if inhaled vaccines are more potent.  

The COVID-19 vaccine study is enlisting candidates from age 18 to 55, the Associated Press reported. The goal is to start giving the participants in London the inhaled vaccine within the next few weeks.

Other studies have shown that inhaled vaccines need smaller doses than with an injectable vaccine, which will help to get more COVID-19 vaccines to more people if the supply is able to be stretched further.

“It may well be that one group has the right vaccine but the wrong delivery method, and only trials such as this will be able to tell us that,” Robin Shattock, the leader of Imperial’s COVID-19 vaccine study, told the Associated Press. 

Imperial is using synthetic strands of the virus’ genetic code to create the COVID-19 vaccine. 

When the COVID-19 vaccine is injected, the body’s cells begin replicating spiky proteins on the coronavirus. The body’s response is meant to generate an immune system response allowing the body to battle COVID-19 infections. 

Oxford is going about creating the COVID-19 vaccine in a totally different way.

Oxford’s study is using a chimpanzee cold virus, which is harmless and created so that it cannot spread, according to the Associated Press. The chimpanzee cold virus is used to carry the spiky protein of the coronavirus into the body and generate an immune system response.

But Oxford suffered a setback back their study had to temporarily stop because a participant reported serious neurological symptoms.

AstraZeneca said one woman participating in the COVID-19 vaccine study reported neurological symptoms, according to the Associated Press. 

She was reportedly in later stages of vaccine testing, and she described symptoms that are believed to be an uncommon inflammation of the spinal cord called transverse myelitis, AstraZeneca spokesman Matthew Kent, told the Associated Press. It is unknown if it is transverse myelitis but more testing and follow-up are being done.

In July, the study was stopped after another participant reported neurological symptoms, but the symptoms were found to be an undiagnosed case of multiple sclerosis and entirely unrelated to the COVID-19 vaccine, according to researchers.

According to the Associated Press, the World Health Organization’s chief scientist, Dr. Soumya Swaminathan, reported at the U.N. health agency that the stopping of the Oxford study was not a cause for concern, and “ups and downs” are a common part of medical research. 

What are your thoughts about inhaled vaccines? Do you want to receive the COVID-19 vaccine when it is released? Share your thoughts in the comments.

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