Painless Vaccine Patch: Tokyo University's Microneedle Technology Could Replace Needles for COVID Immunization
Researchers at the University of Tokyo and the Tokyo Metropolitan Institute of Medical Science have developed a microneedle patch that delivers a COVID-19 vaccine simply by sticking it on the skin. A 3D-printed pillar-guided design lifts tip-loading efficiency to 16.5%, about 8.3 times conventional molding, and mice given the patch showed a 1.2-fold higher antibody response than conventional intradermal injection. How this mouse-stage technology aims at painless, room-temperature, self-applied vaccination.