Could an At-Home, Needle-Free Flu Vaccine Be A Future Reality?
Key Takeaways:
- The article discusses a potential future innovation: a non-invasive, self-administered flu vaccine that could be mailed to recipients.
- The vaccine has been designed with swift public health action as a key aim, and is a combination of three unique technologies: a microneedle patch for administration, a new antigen derived from genetically modified plant cells, and an adjuvant to enhance effectiveness.
- The innovative vaccine, following preliminary tests, showed complete protection in ferrets with a single shot. Subsequent trials with 100 human participants demonstrated no serious side effects and a strengthened immune response, though the study didn’t focus on vaccine effectiveness in humans.
- Further funding is being sought for more comprehensive clinical trials. If successful, the vaccine could be approved within the next five years or so.
- The vaccine could revolutionize flu prevention, enabling efficient and rapid response to epidemics due to its plant-based nature, and potentially leading to higher vaccine coverage due to the convenience of mail delivery and self-administration.
Imagine not needing to make your annual fall visit to the doctor or queue up in a crowded clinic amidst coughs and sneezes for a flu shot. Instead, what if a flu vaccine could come to you in the mail—a package containing a vaccine akin to a Band-Aid that you simply stick on your arm? This is the revolutionary idea being pursued by researchers who have recently conducted preliminary tests on a non-invasive, self-administered vaccine.
Vaccine Innovation for Rapid Health Response
The researchers’ foremost ambition is to design a vaccine that can facilitate swift public health action during a flu pandemic. “When pandemic flu occurs, the worst scenario one can imagine is people coughing on each other in waiting lines for a flu shot,” states Darrick Carter, the lead author of the study.
“The innovative vaccine combines three unique technologies and is specifically intended for self-application by the recipient. The concept is that it could be posted to you, you stick it on, and you’re protected,” explains Carter, who holds the position of Vice President at the Infectious Diseases Research Institute based in Seattle.
A Closer Look at the Vaccine
The vaccine resembles a patch bearing microneedles that administer the vaccine. The design is rooted in the idea that most wounds we suffer are superficial and a substantial part of our immune defense resides just under the skin surface. Hence, deep muscle injections aren’t always necessary, Carter explains.
Another key element is the incorporation of a new type of antigen—a substance that triggers the immune system to generate protective antibodies. This new antigen is derived from genetically modified plant cells that form virus-like particles.
The third crucial component is an adjuvant, an additive that enhances the vaccine’s effectiveness. In early trials, a liquid form of the vaccine and the adjuvant was administered to ferrets, resulting in complete protection with a single shot, the researchers reported.
Testing and Potential Future Applications
Additional trials with 100 human participants were carried out to assess the safety of the liquid form of the adjuvant and vaccine. No serious side effects were reported, and those who received the vaccine demonstrated a strengthened immune response. However, this study did not focus on the vaccine’s effectiveness in humans.
“This is a clinical proof-of-concept study”, accentuates Carter. Plans to secure further funding for an advance to the next phase of clinical trials are underway. Provided all goes smoothly, Carter observes, it could be feasible to have this vaccine approved within the next five or so years.
Expert Opinions and Further Insights
“This could be a game-changer”, declares Dr. David Davenport, the director of infection prevention at Borgess Medical Center in Kalamazoo, Michigan. However, he wasn’t involved in the study. He believes our reliance on egg-based vaccines is severely outdated and needs an upgrade.
Davenport further expresses, “Producing egg-based vaccines is an extremely time-consuming process, often taking six months or longer. If a serious epidemic hits, we need efficient and rapid scalability—a plant-based vaccine could be produced within three months or less.”
Moreover, the convenience of people being able to self-administer a vaccine sent in the mail could result in high vaccine coverage. Currently, fewer than 50% of Americans receive an annual flu shot, as estimated by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Details about these initial trials on ferrets and humans were disclosed on September 12th in the journal Science Advances.
More Information
Fore more advice on flu prevention, please follow this link to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on how to prevent the flu.
