New Delhi/IBNS: Union Health Minister Dr Mansukh Mandaviya and Science and Technology Minister Jitendra Singh Thursday launched the world's first COVID-19 intranasal vaccine, iNCOVACC.

The vaccine was developed in partnership with Washington University, St. Louis, which had designed and developed the recombinant adenoviral vectored construct and evaluated it in preclinical studies for efficacy, according to an NDTV report.

Product development related to preclinical safety evaluation, large-scale manufacturing scale-up, formulation, and delivery device development, including human clinical trials, were conducted by Bharat Biotech, it said.

The vaccine will be available to the government for Rs 325 per dose, while it will cost Rs 800 to private hospitals.

Bharat Biotech received the approval for the primary 2-dose schedule in December 2022 as well as a heterologous booster dose.

India’s drug regulator the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO) had approved the restricted use of the intranasal vaccine in emergency situations in the age group of 18 and above.

The two doses of the vaccine should be administered 28 days apart.

It cannot be given to those who have taken a precaution or booster dose, NDTV reported quoting the head of India’s vaccine task force.

The vaccine has been introduced on the CoWin platform already.

The Centre partly funded the product development and clinical trials through the Department of Biotechnology's Covid Suraksha programme.