A team of scientists develops painless and more effective covid vaccines.
- ByStartupStory | September 28, 2021
Researchers from Stanford University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill say that their 3D-printed vaccine patch can offer an immune response that’s much stronger than a vaccine delivered with a traditional jab.
Most needle shots bypass the skin and are injected into the muscle or the subcutaneous space, which refers to the layer underneath the skin. In general, however, researchers say, intradermal vaccinations tend to be more effective since the skin contains a large number of immune cells.
Intradermal vaccination is difficult to administer with traditional needles and can be painful for the recipient. The newly developed 3D vaccine with microneedles can solve these problems, providing an easy and painless way to deliver intradermal vaccines. This could also potentially reduce vaccine hesitancy for people who suffer from needle phobia, the researchers say.
Researchers found that the vaccine patch generated an antibody response 20 times higher than a needle shot after three weeks, and 50 times higher after a month. The next step will be to integrate COVID-19 mRNA vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna into the patches.
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