• Home
  • Blog
  • About
  • Shop
  • Nav Social Icons

  • Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • Home
  • About
  • Shop
  • Contact
  • Body
  • Mind
  • Social
  • Mobile Menu Widgets

    Connect

    Search

Dr. Michael Hunter's Wellness

What You Need to Know to Optimize Your Health

  • Body
  • Mind
  • Social
You are here: Home / Wellness / A Nasal Covid Vaccine?
woman s face

A Nasal Covid Vaccine?

January 5, 2022 · In: coronavirus, COVID-19, infection, pandemic, vaccines, Wellness

A nasal covid vaccine?

RECENT STUDIES SHOW THAT A NASAL SPRAY is more effective in protecting mice against influenza than vaccines injected into the muscle. This is the finding of the Yale School of Medicine research team led by Akiko Iwasaki, Ph.D.

I faithfully get a flu shot annually. The jab is into my upper arm muscle. The intramuscular way is how we’ve done it for four decades. But for respiratory infections, is there a better means of administering a vaccine?

Imagine a world where a spray into your nose will complement the existing vaccines against diseases such as COVID-19. Those fearful of the jab might be more open to having a nasal vaccine that is a spray. Let’s look at this innovative approach to vaccination for respiratory diseases.

Before we get to her findings, here’s a bit about the remarkable woman leading the research team. Dr. Akiko Iwasaki received her doctoral degree from the University of Toronto (Canada) in 1998. She did her postdoctoral training at the National Institutes of Health (USA) before joining Yale as a faculty member in 2000.

But her story goes beyond her innovative research investigations. In her 2019 piece in Nature Immunology, she recognizes the importance of diversity in the highest levels of the immunology research community.

Dr. Iwasaki also focuses on barriers faced by women and minority scientists, including grant review bias, unusually high demands on their time, work that is not rewarded, and the many ways diversity has benefited her lab over the past two decades.

You can find her advocating for women scientists (and other underrepresented minorities) on Twitter. You’ll learn a lot about viruses such as COVID-19.

Photo by Ivan Diaz on Unsplash

Mucosal vaccines: Putting the guard outside the door

The Yale team discovered that spraying the inner nose lining (mucosa) with a vaccine yields a more robust immune response when compared with jabs into muscles.

When comparing various routes for vaccine administration, Dr. Iwasaki and colleagues noted that after the nasal route vaccination, the immune system secreted substances known as immunoglobulin A (IgA) into the mucosa.

The IgA coats the mucosa and protects the host by preventing the virus from entering the body. She puts it this way: “It’s like putting the guard outside of the door instead of inside the door where antibodies typically work, inside the body.”

In a recent Yale School of Medicine Journal article, the lead researcher continues:

“There are two compartments of the immune system. The first is the systemic circular one where T-cells, B-cells, and antibodies circulate and survey for infection. There is a different compartment, the mucosal compartment where you can immunize and induce immune responses within those particular mucosal surfaces.”

She adds that this latter process facilitates a local immune response. The antibody T- and B-cells now focus on that particular mucosal membrane. The immune system cells are in the right place where the pathogen enters, allowing for a more rapid and effective response to various viruses.

Is a nasal Covid vaccine on the way? The answer may be yes if a Yale scientist has her way. Photo by Fusion Medical Animation on Unsplash

What about COVID-19?

Does the intranasal approach to vaccination potentially apply to the novel coronavirus COVID-19? Is a nasal Covid vaccine on the way? Please go here to learn more:

View at Medium.com
https://medium.com/beingwell/is-a-nasal-vaccine-in-your-future-104599e7e757?sk=1db0dcec4b97354fcf3f9e7e24d96a54

Related posts:

  • How Do Covid-19 Vaccines Work?
  • Dropping Stress in the Covid-19 Era
  • How Does Exercise Reduce Cancer Risk?
  • COVID-19 May Promote Cancer Growth
  • Trying to Lose Weight? You’d Better Think About Sleep.

By: Dr. Michael Hunter · In: coronavirus, COVID-19, infection, pandemic, vaccines, Wellness · Tagged: coronavirus, COVID, covid vaccines, health, nasal vaccines

you’ll also love

🧠 The Surprising Mental Medicine You Already Own
The Grocery Store Aisle Is Quietly Killing Us
💪 Why Doing Less Builds More Muscle (At Any Age)

Join the List

Stay up to date & receive the latest posts in your inbox.

Next Post >

Genes Influence Beverage Choices

Primary Sidebar

Meet Dr. Hunter

Meet Dr. Hunter

Your go-to source for all things wellness. I am Michael Hunter. I practice radiation oncology in the Seattle area and have a particular interest in health. I am delighted that you have joined me here. Thank you.

Read More

Connect

join the list

Featured Posts

woman holding fireflies

How to Make Your Bones Strong

Saturday Night Live’s Kenan Thompson’s Health Wake-Up Call

smiling couple lying on the floor

Slowing Aging

Categories

  • Body
  • Mind
  • Social

Search

Archives

Follow Along

@michaelhuntermd

thebreastcancerdoctor

#Stanford2021 #tyhunter #Stanford2021 #tyhunter
#stanforduniversity #graduation #tyhunter #stanforduniversity #graduation #tyhunter
Hope you too are having a joy-filled weekend! Hope you too are having a joy-filled weekend!
Seattle almost-summer day #hiking #rattlesnakeledg Seattle almost-summer day #hiking #rattlesnakeledge #seattle
I hope you have a joy-filled 2021! I hope you have a joy-filled 2021!
Breathing out of 2020 and into 2021. #hawaii #hiki Breathing out of 2020 and into 2021. #hawaii #hiking #awe #mindfulness
Instagram post 18137289235185551 Instagram post 18137289235185551
Instagram post 17851535831416158 Instagram post 17851535831416158
Instagram post 17889383257655934 Instagram post 17889383257655934
Ah... Ah...
Instagram post 17850799412251973 Instagram post 17850799412251973
www.newcancerinfo.com www.newcancerinfo.com
Exciting new research results... Exciting new research results...
#moma #manhattan #travelphotography #museumofmoder #moma #manhattan #travelphotography #museumofmodernart #cancerdoctor #barnard #newyork #newyorkcity #photography #leicaphotography #blackandwhitephotography #photographylovers #photooftheday
3 ways to lower your colon cancer risk #cancer#col 3 ways to lower your colon cancer risk #cancer#coloncancer#dietandcancer#rectalcancer#wellness#lifestyle
Love the early morning Pike Place Market. Peaceful Love the early morning Pike Place Market. Peaceful, as it opens.
#seattle#spaceneedle#pikeplacemarket#pacificnorthw #seattle#spaceneedle#pikeplacemarket#pacificnorthwest#travelphotography#leicaphotography
#finnriver #finnrivercider #finnriverfarm #PortTow #finnriver #finnrivercider #finnriverfarm #PortTownsend  #olympicpeninsula #BainbridgeIsland #seattlephotographer #travelphotography #cider  #appleciderfestival
#finnriver#olympicpeninsula #porttownsend #seattle #finnriver#olympicpeninsula #porttownsend #seattle #seattlelife #thingstodoinseattle #ciderfestival #ciderhouse #bainbridgeisland
#prostatecancer #cancer#prostate#cancer #wellness #prostatecancer #cancer#prostate#cancer #wellness #prostatecancerawareness #prostateexam #prostatecancerawarenessmonth #menshealth
Follow on Instagram

Footer

On the Blog

  • Body
  • Mind
  • Social

Info

  • About
  • Shop
  • Contact

stay in the know

Copyright © 2025 · Theme by 17th Avenue