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Close-up on the micro needles of the vaccine patch developed at Georgia Institute of Technology.
Medical

Vaccine patch could see the end of needles

US researchers believe development could go further in preventing disease.

NEW VACCINE patches could eliminate the need for painful injections, Al Jazeera reports. US researchers have developed a patch which boosts the body’s immunisation against diseases such as the flu. The researchers, based at Emory University and the Georgia Institute of Technology, believe the patch can help eradicate diseases by increasing the number of people who are vaccinated.

People should be able to administer the patch themselves, rather than being attending to by medical personnel with needles. The patch is actually a series of 100 tiny needles which dissolve after entering the skin.

Check out the patch in this Al Jazeera report:

The patch has been tested using a flu vaccine on mice and the researcher says the results are encouraging. Tests on the small needles used in the patch have shown they are safe for use on humans.