COVID-19 vaccines that do not require a needle may be available later this year or next, a leading scientist said.
Six to eight new immunizations may be ready for regulatory review by the end of the year – some of which do not require needles and can be stored at room temperature, said Soumya Swaminathan, chief scientist at the World Health Organization, over the weekend, according to Bloomberg News.
Experimental vaccines in production use alternative technologies and delivery systems, including oral and nasal administration and skin patches – methods that are more suitable for some groups, such as pregnant women, said Swaminathan.
Promising inoculations are among more than 80 vaccine candidates under study, some of which are in the early stages and may fail, reports Bloomberg.
According to Bloomberg, only 122 of the 195 countries in the world have started vaccinating citizens against COVID-19, while pharmacists struggle to fulfill orders.
“We are excited about the vaccines we have,” said Swaminathan. But “we can improve even more,” she said, according to the report. “I think that, in 2022, we will see the emergence of better vaccines.”
Current manufacturers are also testing updated versions of their vaccines to combat dangerous variants of the virus, which have proliferated in recent months.
The WHO is analyzing whether the survivors of COVID-19 need only one injection of the vaccine, which could release more supplies.
Swaminathan warned that a single approach can complicate things in many countries. however, if blood tests are needed to measure antibodies first, according to Bloomberg.
Scientists are also replacing placebos with “gold standard” vaccines for ethical reasons in some experimental tests, according to the report. Another approach under review is to compare three or four candidate drugs with a placebo, meaning that patients would have only a 20 percent chance of receiving a false dose.
“We are now discussing with several companies with vaccines under development to see if we could launch something like this on a global testing platform,” said Swaminathan.
The lead scientist reiterated on Monday that there were no documented deaths related to the COVID-19 vaccines.
Several countries have suspended the AstraZeneca injection to study its possible negative side effects, but Swaminathan said: “We don’t want people to panic.”
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