Residents in Yangzhou, Wuxi and Huai’an can make an appointment to receive COVID-19 vaccine through inhalation as promotion of the inhaled COVID-19 vaccine has got under way across the province.
At the Tangwang Community Health Service Center in Yangzhou, Mr. Hu became the first citizen in Yangzhou to use the inhaled COVID-19 vaccine. He told the reporter that inhaling the vaccine is just like breathing air, and it’s a little sweet.
Inhaled vaccine is an innovative way of administration without changing the vaccine composition. The vaccine is atomized into tiny particles by atomizer before entering the respiratory tract and lungs by inhalation through the mouth, so as to stimulate mucosal immunity.
Wang Changmei, Chief of Immunization Planning Section of Yangzhou Guangling District CDC, explained that the inhalable vaccines can provide triple protection, stimulate the human body to generate cellular immunity, humoral immunity, and mucosal immunity. The establishment of respiratory mucosal immunity is conducive to resisting COVID-19 infection by blocking or reducing transmission.
For people aged 18 years and above, if they have completed the basic immunization with COVID-19 inactivated vaccine or intramuscular recombinant COVID-19 vaccine for 6 months, they can use the inhalation recombinant COVID-19 vaccine for one dose of booster immunization except for the basic immunization.
Xiu Shixin, staff member of the Immunization Planning Department of Wuxi CDC, told the reporter that the previous two doses of inactivated vaccine, including Beijing Biotech, Sinovac and Wuhan Biotech, or the vaccine injected by Concinol with one shot, stand for completing the basic immunization. On this basis, we can use atomized vaccine to strengthen immunity.
At present, Jiangsu is making special arrangements for the inhalation COVID-19 vaccine, which is expected to be fully launched in the middle of November.
Experts emphasized that the elderly should be given more intensive immunization because of their relatively weak immune function.
