Covid-19 experimental vaccine via skin: Intradermal trial nod for Bharat Biotech

NEW DELHI: The Drug Controller General of India on Friday gave approval to Hyderabad-based Bharat Biotech to test administer its Covid-19 experimental vaccine via skin (intradermal vaccine delivery).

If proven effective, this process could help more people get vaccinated and make Covaxin cheaper as it requires lesser amount of vaccine. Intradermal delivery will be studied separately, alongside the ongoing clinical trials for the indigenously developed vaccine candidate.

With this, Bharat Biotech becomes the first Indian company to be experimenting a vaccine candidate in both intradermal and intramuscular methods. Most vaccines are delivered by the intramuscular, or subcutaneous routes, using a needle and syringe.


In the intradermal route, the vaccine is given in one of the layers of the skin, called dermis. “The dermis and epidermis of human skin are rich in antigen-presenting cells, suggesting that delivery of vaccines to these layers is more efficient and induce protective immune responses with smaller amounts of vaccine antigen,” said a senior doctor at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences.