Oxford Team Looking at Viability of Creating Vaccine Pill

OXFORD TEAM are looking at the viability of creating a vaccine pill as a delivery route for future coronavirus vaccines.

Across the world the rollout of coronavirus vaccines is well underway but the logistics involved are very complicated as most require two doses via injection. There are also cold storage requirements to meet, to ensure the efficacy of the vaccines.

Professor Sarah Gilbert, who works for Oxford University’s vaccinology department has explained how the team are looking into the benefits of vaccinations via either tablets or nasal sprays. The Professor confirmed that nasal sprays are already used for other vaccines.

Speaking to the Science and Technology Committee Professor Gilbert explained that her team are working towards “second generation” forms of the vaccine for the potentially deadly coronavirus.

She explained that, “We are also thinking about second generation formulations of the vaccine – as you know all the vaccines have been given at the moment as intramuscular injections, and that is not necessarily the best way to provide protection against a respiratory virus infection, where we want the immune system to be active in the upper respiratory tract and then in the lower respiratory tract, which is where the virus is causing the infection”

“We have flu vaccines that are given by nasal spray and this could be a very good approach in the future to use vaccines against coronaviruses.

“It’s also possible to consider oral vaccination where you take a tablet, that will give you that immunisation, and that would have a lot of benefits for vaccine rollout if you didn’t have to use the needles and syringes.”

The Professor did however warn that the new methods would take time to develop and that they would need to be tested for their safety and efficacy.

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