Vaccines can be delivered through the skin using ultrasound. This method doesn’t damage the skin and eliminates the need for painful needles. To create a needle-free vaccine, Darcy Dunn-Lawless at the University of Oxford and his colleagues mixed vaccine molecules with tiny, cup-shaped proteins. They then applied liquid mixture to the skin of mice and exposed it to ultrasound – like that used for sonograms – for about a minute and a half.

  • AlecSadler@sh.itjust.works
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    11 months ago

    I’m dumb…what does being diabetic have to do with inability to get needle vaccines? I’m seriously asking.

    • Dadbod89@lemmy.world
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      11 months ago

      There’s type 1 and 2 diabetes. I believe type 2 requires you to regularly prick your fingers to test your blood sugar levels several times a day while type 1 requires mandatory insulin shots into your stomach a few times a day. Basically a diabetic fuckin hates needles for good reason and to be able to do that with ultrasound would be rad.

    • MrShankles@reddthat.com
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      11 months ago

      It could be that if vaccines can be attached to a “cup-like protein” and given through the skin, than maybe insulin could too. Just less needle sticks overall