Sanjiv Sharma¡¯s Skin Patch Delivers COVID-19 Vaccine Without Painful Needles

While most of us are excited to get vaccinated and protect ourselves from the novel coronavirus, the same cannot be said for people who¡¯re scared of needles and injections.

Yes, Trypanophobia is a real thing and not many can easily handle injections.

Reuters

However, no need to feel disheartened as researchers from Swansea University are working on a skin patch that will help administer the novel coronavirus vaccine in a safe and painless manner.

The patch is made entirely out of silicon and is very similar to a nicotine patch. It comprises really tiny microneedles (each thinner than a human hair) which painlessly penetrates the skin and administers the dose in the body.

These needles don¡¯t feel anything like the hypodermic needles that they normally use to administer vaccines, and since they¡¯re barely visible, they¡¯ll help the recipient with Trypanophobia stay calm.

According to the researchers, the needles don¡¯t penetrate deep into the skin and hence don¡¯t trigger the pain receptors.

What¡¯s more is that this method will allow people to self-administer the vaccine, since it will be as simple as putting on a band-aid. They just need to sit on the skin for 24 hours for the vaccine to work properly.

Sanjiv Sharma, the project lead behind this innovation, explained, ¡°This low-cost vaccine administration device will ensure a safe return to work and management of subsequent Covid-19 outbreak waves. Beyond the pandemic, the scope of this work could be expanded to apply to other infectious diseases, as the nature of the platform allows for quick adaptation.¡±

Swansea University/PA

He added, ¡°We are currently getting the platform ready and we hope to do human clinical studies on transdermal delivery with our existing partners at Imperial College London, in preparation for final implementation.¡±