As vaccination gains momentum around the world, the issue of injection stocks is emerging. Countries are hopeful at the moment, ensuring that millions of syringes and needles remain available, and keep ordering suppliers. However, there are other methods of administering the vaccine that do not require these materials.
A Canadian start-up has developed a no-injection pistol, the Med-Jet H4. A cartridge containing the vaccine is placed inside the device. Instead of piercing the skin with a needle, this gun produces tiny puffs of vaccine that infiltrate the pores of the skin and spread through the body, he explains. Montreal Magazine. This technology has been approved in Canada, and its inventors are arranging with the Ministry of Health to use their devices as part of a vaccination campaign against Covid-19.
Canadian Medicines and Health Technologies Agency (ACMTS) Conducted reviews of this technology and other needle-less injector models to test their effectiveness. In particular, they looked at the influenza vaccine, the polio vaccine, measles, mumps, rubella vaccine, diphtheria, tetanus, whooping cough and hepatitis B. The agency found a similar immune response when the vaccine was administered through a needleless syringe, such as using a conventional syringe. Scientists note, however, “a greater number of localized side effects,” such as redness or swelling, with this type of pistol, but fewer “systemic” side effects, such as fever, muscle pain, or fatigue. needle. However, the Agency would like to conduct further studies to study this issue.
Innovations against Coronavirus
The race for a vaccine against the Covid-19 virus has also spurred scientists to innovate. American researchers fromUniversity of Pittsburgh We are designing a vaccine in the form of a “patch” that adheres to the skin and delivers the vaccine to the skin using 400 fine needles, then dissolves into the skin. These patches can be stored at room temperature.
The first tests for this vaccine in mice were fairly conclusive, as PittCoVacc (Pittsburg Coronavirus Vaccine) allowed the production of a wave of antibodies against SAR-Cov-2 in the two weeks following the application of the patch to the skin. The test is still underway to generalize to humans.
A technique used against influenza
Giving a vaccine without needles is a process that scientists have worked on for several years, especially in treating influenza. According to a study conducted by Inserm in 2019, this vaccination method will have benefits that are not found in an intramuscular injection with a needle. flu.
The immune response is multiple: there is in particular the humoral response, which corresponds to the production of antibodies, and the cytotoxic response, which corresponds to the production of T lymphocytes that destroy the infected cells. According to Inserm researchers, injecting the flu vaccine into the muscles stimulates the humoral response more and the cytotoxic response less. However, injecting the vaccine through the cutaneous tracts (into the skin) leads to a cytotoxic immune reaction “in addition to that obtained in the context of conventional vaccination,” explains researcher Bazhin Compaader in a press release. Thus this stronger immune response will be more protective, especially in the elderly.
Injections into the skin without needles, although not widely used at present, can become an effective method when injections are deficient. It remains for scientists to determine whether this method is clearly effective against influenza or other viruses, as effective as vaccines against the Corona virus.
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