Source: ChildrensHealthDefense.org
An Atlanta-based biotech company last week said it successfully concluded the first-ever clinical trial testing of a microarray injection-free vaccine on children as young as 9 months old.
Micron Biomedical tested microneedle-based delivery of the measles-rubella (MR) vaccine on children in Gambia with backing from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Microarray injections are administered via a microneedle patch that looks like a Band-Aid and is applied by pressing it to the skin. Once applied, microneedles penetrate the upper layer of the skin to deliver the vaccine.
The study, which researchers presented last week at the Microneedles 2023 conference in Seattle, evaluated the safety, immunogenicity and acceptability of the leading commercially available MR vaccine from the Serum Institute of India delivered by Micron’s microarray technology in adults, toddlers and infants.
Proponents of this vaccination method, such as Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance — of which the Gates Foundation is a founding member — call the patches “the future of vaccination, where these lifesaving interventions are delivered painlessly, without the need for syringes or perhaps even trained medical professionals.”…