Imagine a vaccine against COVID-19 in pill form – no need for injections, medical staff, you take it at home, according to AFP. This is what the Israeli pharmaceutical company Oramed is trying to do, and the first clinical trials to be conducted by its subsidiary Oravax are scheduled for August, its head Nadav Kidron told AFP.
According to Kidron, oral vaccines are important for developing countries because they facilitate the logistics of vaccination campaigns. But they can also increase immunization in richer countries, where fear of injections is often ignored when vaccination is refused.
According to a recent study, nearly 19 million Americans who do not want to be vaccinated would agree to do so if the vaccine was in a pill.
“For vaccination to be successful, as many people as possible need to be vaccinated,” Kidron said.
Other benefits include less plastic waste and potentially fewer side effects.
Despite the positive aspects of the theory, few oral vaccines are successful because the active ingredients do not withstand passage through the gastrointestinal tract.
Exceptions are vaccines against diseases that are transmitted through the mouth or digestive system, so there is an effective oral polio vaccine.
The Israeli company has applied for permission to conduct clinical trials in several countries, such as South Africa, and hopes that the first trials will begin in Israel within a few weeks, if the Ministry of Health allows it.