Researchers Develop Microneedle Patch for Flu Vaccination

A National Institutes of Health-funded study led by a team at the Georgia Institute of Technology and Emory University have shown that an influenza vaccine can produce robust immune responses and be administered safely with an experimental patch of dissolving microneedles. The method is an alternative to needle-and-syringe immunization. Dr. Roderic I. Pettigrew, director of the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering, talks about how it could eliminate the discomfort of an injection as well as the inconvenience and expense of visiting a flu clinic.