Australians scientists develop painless alternative to traditional vaccines
There is hope for a potentially painless alternative to vaccines, as Australian scientists help develop a dissolvable patch to substitute traditional injections.
Scientists from RMIT University in Melbourne, alongside counterparts from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Harvard Medical School, have created a tiny mRNA patch which uses hundreds of tiny tips to deliver vaccines into the skin.
There is hope for a potentially painless alternative to vaccines, as Australian scientists help develop a dissolvable patch to substitute traditional injections. 9News
“Those needles when they’re applied will begin to dissolve,” RMIT University lead study author Dr Brendan Dyett said.
Researchers examined how the fragile particles used to carry mRNA respond when they are dried into the dissolvable material used in microneedle patches.
Unlike traditional mRNA vaccines that must be used after a few weeks and require ultra-cold storage, the dry vaccine can be kept at room temperature and last for months.
“Many mRNA vaccines need to be stored at very low temperatures, adding cost and complexity to transport and delivery,” Dyett said.
Scientists have created a tiny mRNA patch which uses hundreds of tiny tips to deliver vaccines into the skin. 9News
“Our study helps explain how the particles that carry mRNA respond to drying and rehydration, which is an important step towards designing future vaccine patches that are more stable and practical to distribute.
“This sort of platform technology may allow us to distribute these vaccines more rapidly.”
RMIT lead researcher Distinguished Professor Calum Drummond AO said the technology could be a game changer in modern medicine.
“This research is helping build the foundation for microneedle patches that could make advanced vaccines and therapies simpler to use and easier to access,” Drummond said.
“The long-term goal is to support technologies that are not only effective, but practical for the places and communities that need them most.”
It comes as immunisation levels across Australia slump.
The childhood national vaccination rate reached a five-year low last yearn with 90.5 per cent of 12-month-olds and 88.4 per cent of two-year-olds fully vaccinated. 9News
The childhood national vaccination rate reached a five-year low last yearn with 90.5 per cent of 12-month-olds and 88.4 per cent of two-year-olds fully vaccinated.
“Most kids are scared of needles and even a quarter of adults have a fear of needles,” Royal Australian College of General Practitioners Dr Michael Wright said.
In March, NSW introduced a needle-free nasal spray flu vaccine to encourage immunisation rates.
Already the rate of young children taking up the immunisation has jumped; rising from 10 per cent by July last year to 15 per cent at the same time this year.
“I think it’s a really important step forward to have multiple ways to provide the vaccines,” Wright said.
Researchers say they plan to test whether similar approaches could be applied to other mRNA medicines.
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