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Ultrasound can push vaccines into the body without needles (www.newscientist.com)

submitted 11 months ago by [email protected] to c/technology

268 comments fedilink hide all child comments

Vaccines can be delivered through the skin using ultrasound. This method doesn’t damage the skin and eliminates the need for painful needles. To create a needle-free vaccine, Darcy Dunn-Lawless at the University of Oxford and his colleagues mixed vaccine molecules with tiny, cup-shaped proteins. They then applied liquid mixture to the skin of mice and exposed it to ultrasound – like that used for sonograms – for about a minute and a half.

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[–] Nathanator 0 points 11 months ago (2 children)

Maybe one way of looking at it might be : this would be safe enough you could trust people to self-administer, and you could therefore take the professional with the needle out of the equation.

90 seconds of one person's time has got to be better than the quick jab by two people, no?

[–] [email protected] 2 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (1 children)

Depending on how specific the injection needs to be, there are a number of scenarios in which people can self-administer injections. So, ignoring people who physically can't self-administer, it isn't that dramatic a change.

I can't help but feel that the professional would be even more necessary to administer this correctly and not just waste a treatment/dose doing it wrong, whilst under the illusion that you did it right. Along with the specialised equipment needed for it in the first place. Needles and doses at least are pretty easily self-contained and if it is suitable for self application just "pointy end goes in fat bit of you".

Naturally it's early days, so it'll be fascinating to see how this develops.

[–] Nathanator 1 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

I agree! Auto injectors aren't cheap compared to ye olde trusty ampule and syringe, and this might push the costs towards the higher end again. I can see a kids-and-the-latex-allergic edge case scenario.

Can't wait to see what develops 😄

[–] [email protected] 2 points 11 months ago (1 children)

I don't think any amount of de-specializing would be enough to trust the ignorant and/or malicious masses could or would self-administer adequately.

[–] Nathanator 1 points 11 months ago

You're right. Can't just post them to folks and expect 100% uptake. It might widen the possibilities of more people getting more vaccines, though. In my books, this can only be a good thing.