Is there no market for Bharat Biotech's nasal vaccine?

Bharat biotech launched its Covid-19 nasal vaccine on January 26, 2023. The vaccine is expected to face major hurdles in finding a market in India as well as globally.

Dubbed as a game changer in preventing the spread of coronavirus, Bharat Biotech’s nasal vaccine, called iNCOVACC is the first intranasal vaccine in the world to have received approval as both a primary vaccine for Covid-19 and a booster.

Apart from the ease of administration, it triggers an immune response in the nose and upper airway, blocking the infection and breaking the chain of transmission. Further, this vaccine can be quickly modified to combat emerging variants. “Despite all the advantages and great R&D, iNCOVACC is a late entrant in the Covid-19 vaccines market,” says Girdhar Gyani, Director General, Association of Healthcare Providers (India). At present 98 per cent of the Indian population has already taken at least one dose and 92 per cent have taken both doses of the Covid-19 vaccine, leaving little scope for the new Bharat Biotech vaccine. The vaccine has the maximum potential to target the children’s population but it has only been approved for adults.

While the company has not shared any details about its capacity and number of doses manufactured, sources tell BT that the central government has not placed any orders even after one month of its approval. “The government will not procure the nasal vaccine because we have surplus vaccines in stock. Serum Institute of India has also recently donated over 20 million doses of Covishield. Procuring more vaccines will not serve any purpose,” a senior official in the Union health ministry says.

The pricing of the vaccine is also not conducive. According to the company, it will be priced at Rs 800 per dose in the private market and at Rs 325 per dose for procurement by central and state governments.

“Now only 30 per cent people are left to take boosters. Further, when other vaccines such as Covaxin and Covishield are available free of cost, people will not go for such an expensive vaccine,” says Gyani.