A logo is pictured on a wall outside the offices of pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca in Macclesfield, central England on May 11, 2021. (PAUL ELLIS / AFP)

LOS ANGELES / MOSCOW / BERLIN – Attempts by Oxford University researchers and AstraZeneca Plc to create a nasal-spray version of their jointly developed COVID-19 shot suffered a setback on Tuesday as initial testing on humans did not yield the desired protection.

An antibody response in the respiratory mucous membranes was seen in only a minority of participants in the trial, which was in the first of usually three phases of clinical testing, the University of Oxford said in a statement on Tuesday.

An antibody response in the respiratory mucous membranes was seen in only a minority of participants in the trial, which was in the first of usually three phases of clinical testing, the University of Oxford said in a statement on Tuesday

Also, the immune response measured in the blood was weaker than that from a shot-in-the-arm vaccination.

Researchers across the world have placed high hopes on nasal spray vaccines against the coronavirus because the method is believed to potentially prevent infection and not just disease as it may prompt an immune response directly in the airways, where the virus enters the body.

In addition, the method would be less painful and easier to handle than injections.

Pfizer

A Pfizer executive with a lead role in negotiating a COVID-19 vaccine bulk supply agreement with the European Commission "categorically" ruled out that the US drugmaker's chief executive agreed on the contract via mobile phone text messages.

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She added that such talks involve far too many people on both sides and take far too long to be conducted via mobile phone texts.

Russia

Russia has registered 15,661 new COVID-19 cases in the past 24 hours, taking the nationwide tally to 21,218,993, the official monitoring and response center said Monday.

Switzerland

Swiss drugs regulator Swissmedic said on Monday it had temporarily approved Pfizer's COVID-19 booster shot targeting the original and BA.1 Omicron coronavirus variants.

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Swissmedic added that the data currently available to it was not yet sufficient to make a decision on Pfizer's bivalent booster vaccine targeting the BA.4 and BA.5 Omicron variants.

A medical staff member prepares a dose of COVID-19 vaccine at a vaccine clinic in San Antonio, Texas, the United States, Jan 9, 2022. (NICK WAGNER / XINHUA)

United States

Early data shows that just over 11 million Americans, or about 4 percent of those eligible, have received the new bivalent COVID-19 booster shots, according to a report of The Washington Post.

Despite projections of a fall and winter COVID-19 wave with the potential to sicken millions and kill tens of thousands, few Americans get new COVID booster shots, said the report.
About half of Americans say they have heard little or nothing about the shots, according to a recent tracking poll by Kaiser Family Foundation.