A skin patch for administering COVID-19 vaccines has been developed that is more effective than injections. The findings are published in Vaccine journal.
Scientists from the University of Queensland have developed a patch that showed a more effective result than the traditional COVID-19 injections.
In a study sponsored by the biotech company Vaxxas, experts analyzed the efficacy of the HexaPro COVID-19 vaccine candidate and the Vaxxas patch against the SARS-CoV-2 virus. The results of the experiments showed that the patch helps to fight new variants of the virus much better than the vaccine — 11 times more effective.
The centimeter-wide skin patch is dotted with 5,000 tiny plastic spikes, each a quarter of a millimeter long and coated with dried vaccine that is more stable than liquid forms. The patch is applied with an applicator that painlessly presses the vaccine into the upper layer of the skin full of immune cells.
At the moment, the company is accelerating the development of the product and is preparing for large clinical trials for subsequent mass production.
