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.

  • The Menemen!
    link
    English
    11 year ago

    Will anyone actually do this, if it takes 1-1.5 minutes and needs a heavy machine?

    • @kurwa
      link
      English
      11 year ago

      People who don’t like needles? Or do you mean institutions?

      • @[email protected]
        link
        fedilink
        English
        11 year ago

        I’m sure there are some people that would help, but I went from blood draws making me nearly pass out to self injecting meth(otrexate) once a week after my RA diagnosis.

        • @[email protected]
          link
          fedilink
          English
          21 year ago

          A blood draw ruins my week (not exaggerated). If I were diagnosed with diabetes I would end up dead. For me, anything that avoids a needle is worth it.

          • @[email protected]
            link
            fedilink
            English
            11 year ago

            Exactly. For you it’d likely be worth it. For people like me it’d be a waste - the answer was to nut up. I also require hour-long transfusions every two months. I’m not sure they could do anything but maybe put you under anesthesia for something like that.

            • @[email protected]
              link
              fedilink
              English
              11 year ago

              Yeah, I really can’t imagine. My wife (who works in the medical field) tried to help me “get used to” needles and I didn’t make a single lick of progress. With my kind of issue, it’s common that the issue gets worse and not better if you get shots more often. Something about my subconscious forming a feedback loop with my reactions to create worse reactions over time. I didn’t stop breathing from shots when the symptoms started when I was 8 or 9, just got dizzy/lightheaded and passed out.

              • @[email protected]
                link
                fedilink
                English
                11 year ago

                That sounds insanely distressing. I won’t recount my bad experiences. None of them were harmful, but some nurses aren’t as gentle as others.

                • @[email protected]
                  link
                  fedilink
                  English
                  21 year ago

                  Yeah. I half-mentioned it elsewhere. I was in an ER and needed to have blood drawn. I was just barely staying conscious by leaning back with an ice pack, but they needed the room so a nurse came in and said “yeah you’re fine” and lugged me from the blood-draw chair into a wheelchair. My wife wanted to hit her (lol) but it took the 2 of them to keep me from hitting the floor instead of the wheelchair because I started to black out from suddenly standing.

                  Some nurses are idiots.

                  • @[email protected]
                    link
                    fedilink
                    English
                    11 year ago

                    Jesus. I had a nurse accidentally throw a vial (one of like 11. It was my first RA blood draw) in the biohazard bin. She took one look at me and ripped that box off the wall to carefully extract it, risking herself in the process.

                    Recently they moved half the infusion staff to another location and a nurse I’d never met, who’s a super nice guy, just isn’t as careful when he’s finishing up as the women have been. First bruise I’ve gotten from them in like two years. My arm looked like I was shooting up heroin or something. No real damage, but it’s unsettling.