If you've ever taken a child to get a vaccination then you know what an ordeal it can be. That's because most vaccines must be given with a syringe that punctures the skin to deliver the vaccine -- a shot with a needle. This terrifies most children (and quite a few adults like myself). Wouldn't it be nice if scientists could devise a painless way to deliver a vaccine that didn't require a large needle, or even a visit to the doctor's office?
Well, researchers at Emory University and the Georgia Institute of Technology think they may have just done that. In an article for Nature Medicine they reveal the invention of a new delivery system for vaccines and the successful tests they have conducted with mice.
These researchers have invented a vaccine patch which a person can just put on their skin. The patch contains about 100 "microneedles" loaded with the vaccine (see picture above) which just barely puncture the outer layer of skin and melt away delivering the vaccine. These microneedles are so small and the tiny punctures so shallow that they are painless (because there are immune cells just below the skin's surface). They have proven to be very effective in the tests that have been done.
The tests, to date, have only been performed on mice. They separated mice into three groups. One group was given a regular shot of influenza vaccine. A second group was given the vaccine through the patch applied to their shin. A third control group was given a patch with no vaccine in it. Then, after three months, all three groups were exposed to influenza. It turned out that the vaccine patch was even more effective in preventing the mice from getting influenza than the old-fashioned shots were.
They hope to conduct tests in humans in the next two years. The tests have only been used to deliver an influenza vaccine so far, but the researchers are hopeful that it would work for vaccinations for many, if not all, diseases.
They believe the patches will cost no more than a regular vaccination with a shot, and the person can apply it to themselves after buying it from a drugstore or receiving it in the mail. No more scary needles or visits to the doctor's office.
I don't know about you, but that sounds great to me. And I'm sure it would be appreciated by parents everywhere.
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