Painless Vaccination Patch Shows Promise

The inevitable pain and even fear of the annual flu vaccine may soon be a thing of the past. New research indicates that delivering the flu vaccine through a specially designed patch is entirely feasible.

According to a study recently published in the scientific journal Vaccine, an experimental new vaccine administer in the form of a patch was successfully applied to the arms of 100 volunteers subjects from metropolitan Atlanta. Surprisingly, these patches weren't even applied by the researchers, but by the subjects themselves.

Authors of the study write that these experimental vaccination patches were designed for self-administration, and hopefully will lead to a rise in annual flu vaccinations.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), only about 40 percent of the U.S. population is vaccinated for influenza each year, even though an estimated 80 to 90 percent of U.S. citizens reportedly have access to the vaccine.

Researchers have found encouraging evident that indicates that the introduction of self-administered vaccinations through patches can help raise those numbers. According to the study, 100 participants were given both simulate vaccine injections and simulated vaccine patches.  After the injections alone, only 46 percent of the participants said they were likely to be regularly vaccinated. However, after introduction of the patch, that number grew to 65 percent of the participants.

The patches deliver recommended flu vaccine dosage through tiny virtuously painless micro-needles embedded within their surface. Researchers behind the study speculate that introduction of the patch could help people receive flu vaccination in spite of reasons that have kept them from being vaccinated in the past, such as a want to avoid unnecessary pain or a fear of needles.

The research team behind this study plans to launch Food and Drug Administration regulated Phase 1 clinical studies looking into the effectiveness and safety of the patch as early as 2015.

The study was published in Vaccine on February 11.