COVID-19 Vaccine Delivered by Skin Patch May Work Better Than Injections

The world has developed quite a few vaccines against the virus that causes COVID-19, and several of them work very well. But scientists are working on even better solutions. The drawbacks of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines are that they must be stored and shipped at freezing temperatures, and they must be injected by trained medical personnel. These are requirements that underdeveloped countries don't have enough of, especially in rural areas. That's why David Muller and his team at the University of Queensland have been working on a better vaccine delivery system -a patch that can simply be applied to the skin. They've already made these patches with vaccines against influenza, polio, dengue, and other illnesses. Their COVID-19 patch is now in the trial stage.

ā€‹RelatedWe Don't Talk About Covid, No no no

The patch is only a centimeter wide, and sports 5000 tiny plastic spikes that are covered with a dried version of the HexaPro vaccine, which is now in clinical trials. HexaPro is stable at room temperature for at least a couple of months. The tiny spikes on the patch only reach the upper level of skin, but as Dr. Muller tells us, there are many immune cells in the epidermis. Trials in mice so far have shown that the patch delivers a bigger immune response than injected vaccines! Human trials of the vaccine patch will begin next year. Read more about this research at NewScientist. ā€‹

(Image credit: David Muller/University of Queensland)

#vaccine #COVID19 #skinpatch #HexaPro

More Neat Posts

Loading...