Painless Vaccines Can Be Available in the Future

How will you be able to take your kid to a doctor for a shot? Say that the vaccine doesn’t really hurt, that it’s but psychological pain that others experience? Or take them by force? The debate may end if the patch based vaccine make further developments, and be proved effective on human subjects.

When vaccine like flu shot is needed, parents need not worry about kids wanting not to see doctors in lab coats or medical scrubs. A group or researchers were able to develop vaccine patch, which parents themselves can easily administer at home. There’s no need to literally drag your child to a hospital to get them vaccinated, and force them to face their fear of needle. The patch vaccine provides painless vaccination.

What is this patch vaccine? It’s basically a patch with 100 pieces of 0.65 mm long microscopic needles which penetrate the outer layer of the skin and dissolve upon contact. It does not need to penetrate deeply because there are immune cells present just below the surface of the skin, said co-author of the study Prof. Richard Compans of Emory University Medical School.

The group tested the new technological development on groups of mice. The microneedles, loaded with influenza vaccine, one group of mice was patched, while another group received the drug through traditional hypodermic needles. After which they were with flu virus. At the end of three months, the tests showed patched created a more effective immune response on mice.

This promising new technology will be further tested, and if it proves effective even on human, traditional hypodermic needles can become obsolete and totally eradicated. At times, wherein emergency vaccination is needed, patch vaccines can be a real big help in administering the drug. No need even for medical training in delivering vaccine at all.