While the Covid-19 pandemic is perhaps no longer on the top of our concerns, it is still doing the rounds among Malaysians. As part of the fight against the disease, current caretaker Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin has revealed that Malaysia is currently doing clinical trials on a new type of inhalable Covid-19 vaccines from CanSino.
It was previously reported on The Straits Times that the inhalable Covid-19 vaccine was already available in Shanghai, China. How it works is pretty simple: you basically hold a cup that holds an aerosol with the vaccine in it. You then take a deep breath from the cup and hold your breath for five seconds, before slowly exhaling.
Shanghai has started administering an inhalable Covid-19 vaccine that requires the recipient to breathe in for at least 5 seconds in a process that lasts about 20 seconds pic.twitter.com/dValVSvmES
— Bloomberg Quicktake (@Quicktake) October 27, 2022
It’s currently being used as a booster dose for those aged 18 and above only, and is the first inhalable Covid-19 vaccine of its kind. The new vaccine is seen as a potential way to expedite the global fight against Covid-19, with this new method able to ‘stimulate immune responses on the mucosal surfaces’, and is apparently able to get a stronger antibody response compared to the usual injected vaccine.
According to Khairy, CanSino is already part of their vaccine portfolio. As such, if and when the new inhalable vaccine proves to be effective, the Health Ministry will then start looking into it further. Khairy also said that the ministry will be providing further updates on new developments with regards to the Covid-19 pandemic, but so far has not mentioned what this new update will be about.
“The clinical trial is ongoing in Malaysia and in fact CanSino is part of our vaccine portfolio so if the trials proves to be effective we may look into it,” – Khairy Jamaluddin
The CanSino inhalable vaccine was approved by the Chinese National Medical Products Administration just last month, and so far is being offered only to those in Shanghai that have finished their primary inoculation doses but have not yet received their first booster dose. According to one recipient of the new inhalable vaccine, the dose was pain-free and was overall an easy process, and even has a slight sweet taste to it.
