It's hoped needle-free immunisation patches that take the sting out of vaccination are another step closer, with an Australian trial underway with children and their parents.
Researchers at the Centre for Children's Health Research in Brisbane will monitor 90 children aged between six months and two years of age — and their parents — after administering a patch coated with a placebo substance.
Children's Health Queensland nurse researcher and trial co-investigator Rebecca Doyle said the team wants to gauge participants' responses.
"The parent receives the patch first and then the child receives the patch and we're looking for how the child reacts to the patch, what their skin does afterwards and they'll have some follow-up measurements and photos done," Ms Doyle said.
Brisbane mother Caitlyn and her 17-month-old son, Luca, were the first participants.
"I think it's a really exciting opportunity to be part of the development of a device that helps to reduce the pain associated with needles, and also the anxiety for both kids and their parents," Caitlyn said.
She described the patch as feeling like "a rubber band being flicked against my arm".
"As soon as the device was removed, that pain stopped and I think it was very well tolerated by both of us," she said.
Technology developed by Australian company
The patch — which has been designed and developed by a Brisbane-based biotech company, Vaxxas — uses technology developed at the University of Queensland more than a decade ago.
Ms Doyle described the patches as "a game-changer in the way we deliver vaccines".
"It's got lots of little microscopic projections on it that you can dry-coat with a vaccine. [It uses] a special device to put it on your arm and it goes through the first few layers of your skin, where there's lots of immune cells, so it's really effective in delivering a vaccination," she said.
Few people relish the prospect of getting a jab, so doing away with injections would have significant benefits.
"There's no needle and syringe, so that's great news for all our kids and young people with needle phobia and procedural anxiety," Ms Doyle said.
"We think up to 40 per cent of the population can have needle phobia — it's a huge workload trying to convince those kids to have their normal vaccinations."
She said people with a fear of needles sometimes avoided being vaccinated and having other health care procedures.
"We know that it can cause some health avoidance down the track, so they're less likely to go to a dentist appointment, or go to health screening, even as adults, which has health implications for them," Ms Doyle said.
Another significant benefit of the patch is that they don't need to be kept cold.
"That's a game changer for logistics, in terms of storage and transport, especially when you're talking about mass vaccination campaigns in developing countries," Ms Doyle said.
Vaxxas project manager Ben Baker said the COVID-19 pandemic had sharpened the company's focus on helping protect more people from preventable diseases.
"What we hope is that we can really improve the vaccination process for people and take all of those amazing vaccines that are developed and get them to more people sooner," he said.
Mr Baker said Vaxxas had done a number of phase-one clinical trials in adults, some with placebos and some containing vaccines.
"With all the immune cells that are in the skin, we get really good responses to a vaccine when you deliver it there."
He said more adult clinical trials will start soon using COVID-19 and seasonal influenza vaccines and a phase-one/two trial is planned for next year delivering a measles-rubella vaccine to children in Gambia.
The company hopes the patches will be available globally in three to five years.
"We have to go through the standard approval process that any vaccine or medical device would, so it's a long process," Mr Baker said.
