Needle-Free Shots Make Vaccines Less Scary
Needle-Free Shots Make Vaccines Less Scary
Alternatives to Traditional Vaccinations Appeal to Patients Who Don't Like Needles
Called Fluzone Intradermal, it's injected into the skin instead of the muscle like traditional flu shots.
"You just put this little cigar-like tube that contains the thin needle up against your arm and pull the plunger," says Decker. He consults for Sanofi-Aventis, which makes both the traditional flu vaccine and this Fluzone.
"It's not quite needle-free but it feels that way to the recipient. You don't get that deep muscle pain associated with traditional flu shots," he says.
Fluzone was licensed by the FDA for use in the 2011-2012 flu season.
Not all the skin-based needle-free vaccines are for the flu. Bioject's experimental Intradermal Pen Injector is being studied as a means of delivering the polio and rabies vaccines.
Its molded syringes have openings about the thickness of a human hair, through which the liquid drug is forced into the skin.
Other groups are pursuing "dissolving microneedles" that disintegrate when they release a dose of the vaccine, Weniger says.
There's a host of advantages to skin-based systems for vaccination, he says. "They’re less dependent on patient cooperation."
Besides skin-based systems for vaccination, certain vaccines are available to be taken by mouth or nasal spray.
These findings were presented at a medical conference. They should be considered preliminary as they have not yet undergone the "peer review" process, in which outside experts scrutinize the data prior to publication in a medical journal.
Needle-Free Shots Make Vaccines Less Scary
Alternatives to Traditional Vaccinations Appeal to Patients Who Don't Like Needles
Needles as Thin as Hair continued...
Called Fluzone Intradermal, it's injected into the skin instead of the muscle like traditional flu shots.
"You just put this little cigar-like tube that contains the thin needle up against your arm and pull the plunger," says Decker. He consults for Sanofi-Aventis, which makes both the traditional flu vaccine and this Fluzone.
"It's not quite needle-free but it feels that way to the recipient. You don't get that deep muscle pain associated with traditional flu shots," he says.
Fluzone was licensed by the FDA for use in the 2011-2012 flu season.
Not all the skin-based needle-free vaccines are for the flu. Bioject's experimental Intradermal Pen Injector is being studied as a means of delivering the polio and rabies vaccines.
Its molded syringes have openings about the thickness of a human hair, through which the liquid drug is forced into the skin.
Other groups are pursuing "dissolving microneedles" that disintegrate when they release a dose of the vaccine, Weniger says.
There's a host of advantages to skin-based systems for vaccination, he says. "They’re less dependent on patient cooperation."
Besides skin-based systems for vaccination, certain vaccines are available to be taken by mouth or nasal spray.
These findings were presented at a medical conference. They should be considered preliminary as they have not yet undergone the "peer review" process, in which outside experts scrutinize the data prior to publication in a medical journal.