Scientists Develop Needle-Free Measles Vaccine

Scientists at Georgia Institute of Technology have developed a needle-free vaccine against measles that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is calling a “game-changer.” The vaccine, administered via a stick-on patch that is an inch square and is covered with tiny, dissolvable needles that soak into the skin in minutes, doesn’t have to be kept at a constant cool temperature, and it doesn’t need to be administered by anyone with special training. The hope is to be able to mail these vaccines to people to self-administer or to send them to minimally trained technicians to give them to people living in hard-to-reach areas.

The researchers had been working to develop a microneedle patch against influenza when CDC helped them come up with a formula against measles. “It took some work,” said Mark Prausnitz, a professor of biomolecular engineering at Georgia Tech, who is leading the vaccine patch team. “The additives that we put into the vaccine had to be different.” Measles is made using a live, but weakened, vaccine, so it took some “tinkering” to make a formula that would keep that virus viable on the patch instead of in a vial full of liquid. But, in animal tests, the needle-free vaccine worked well, and the team says it now needs to test it in people.

“Microneedle technology could move the Global Vaccine Action Plan forward by leading to improved protection against other diseases, including polio, influenza, rotavirus, rubella, tuberculosis and others,” said a spokesperson for CDC. “CDC is also collaborating with Georgia Tech to see if microneedles could be used to administer inactivated polio vaccine.”