Vaccination is considered to be a panacea in the fight against the corona virus. A specially developed corona plaster should be even more effective. What’s behind it?
Berlin/Queensland – Since December 2020, in Germany Vaccines administered against the coronavirus. A lot has happened since then, both in medicine and in virus development. Variants and mutations such as Omikron, which persists particularly in the form of the offshoot Omikron BA.5, require adapted vaccines.
But are there other ways to protect yourself from the corona virus than just vaccines given in the syringe? Absolutely, because a new form of corona protection via the skin seems to be very promising according to a study. The focus is on a special corona vaccination patch.
Corona vaccine patch instead of vaccination by syringe: researchers speak of eleven times better effect
A new form of corona vaccination that, according to researchers at the University of Queensland in Australia, is said to be significantly more effective than all conventional vaccinations. Corona vaccinations via a specially developed patch would have an eleven times greater effect than the conventional corona vaccination by syringe, which was questioned in a WHO study.
In the future, special corona vaccination patches could replace the classic vaccination by injection.
© Bernd Weißbrod/dpa/Sylvio Dittrich/imago/Montage
“The high-density microarray patch is a new means of vaccine delivery. It allows for precise penetration of the vaccine through the skin, an area of the body rich in immune cells. This is what McMillan and his PhD colleague David Muller would have done as part of their study discovered in collaboration with scientists from the biotechnology company Vaaxas.
Corona vaccination patches particularly effective in “fighting the omicron variant”.
In combination with the “Hexapro” vaccine, the corona vaccine patch can fight the different virus variants even better. Vaccination via plaster is significantly more effective “than with the same vaccine that was administered via a needle,” especially “in combating the omicron variant”.
According to Muller, the multiplicity of mutations in the coronavirus has given it the ability to “evade the immune responses generated by current vaccines.” The scientist said according to a press release. But the new patch technology using plasters would have the potential to enable a new and, above all, more effective form of corona vaccination. At a time when new corona variants are mutating quickly.
Appeal from the researcher: Do not neglect classic vaccination against corona despite vaccination patches
But, despite the development of the Corona vaccine patch, Muller notes: “It is important to emphasize that existing vaccines are still an effective means of combating this serious viral disease”. There would also be a vague hope of eventually developing a universal vaccine against the coronavirus.
Before the time comes, the researchers rely on their corona vaccination patch. This is coated with thousands of microneedles that are so tiny that you can’t even feel them on the skin. And it is precisely these needles that are wetted with the vaccine. In the next step, the vaccination patch is pressed onto the skin and then removed again. In this way, the vaccine would get into the body without any pain.
List of rubrics: © Bernd Weißbrod/dpa/Sylvio Dittrich/imago/Montage