By Lily Kelly
Contributing Writer
Hope is on the horizon for needle phobics as researchers from Griffith University have developed a needle-free influenza vaccine that can be delivered through the nose.
Professor Bernd Rehm, Griffith University principal research leader, said in a news release that his team reprogrammed bacterial cells to create a robust vaccine.
“These reprogrammed bacterial cells factories have the ability to abundantly produce the desired vaccine particles, which means we can produce large amounts of the vaccine in a short period of time,” he said.
The useability of the vaccine technology extends beyond the prevention of human influenza to avian and swine influenzas along with other animal flus due to its strength and cost efficiency.
Rehm said that the manufacturing process creates a formulation of robust particles, protecting the vaccine from degradation and making it suitable for stockpiling.
He said the synthetic vaccine particles mimic the actual virus and trigger an immune response, preventing infection.
The vaccine boosts the T-cells — a part of the immune system that helps protect the body from infection — along the respiratory tract. And through this boost, the vaccine induces protection against influenza virus variants in living organisms, meaning animals or humans.
Benefits of Intranasal Delivery
Around 10% of people experience moderate to severe needle phobia, typically manifesting in increased heart rate and blood pressure, trembling, shaking and breathlessness.
The increase in blood pressure during anticipation of the needle and the sudden drop in pressure and heart rate when the needle is encountered or administered can result in fainting. Consequently, around half of the needle-phobic population have fainted at least once.
Needle phobia can also trigger intense urges to escape or avoid having needles in the future.
The current treatment for needle phobia is to safely and slowly test the fear.
However, this new vaccine has the potential to help people receive flu shots without triggering their phobia.
Another benefit of the intranasal delivery of this vaccine is that nasal drop administration can significantly limit respiratory virus replication and shedding (where the virus is spread through coughing and sneezing).
Rehm said that nasal drop administration has this ability because it mimics how the virus enters the body and causes an infection. However, instead of causing an infection, the vaccine induces an immune response to clear the illness.
Who Can Have the Vaccine?
Rehm said the vaccine is produced using mineral solutions and sugar that do not contain animal product-derived components or antibiotics, suggesting broad applicability without restrictions.
“More work needs to be done, but we hope to see a human intranasal influenza vaccine available to the public in the next three to four years,” he said.
“The generation of new influenza vaccine which can provide long-term protection against a range of seasonal and emerging variants would be a major health and economic benefit.”
