Transcutaneous Immunization
How often do we hear about people being afraid of needles? Often! Doing some research on the topic it came to my attention that twenty percent of the general public have an morbid fear of sharp objects, needles and injections (a phobia called ‘trypanophobia’). Intercell has created a ‘Vaccine Patch’ (designed by IDEO) to eliminate the fear of needles and make immunization shots a little less frightening— and at the same time delivering the same amount of medicine for the general public. “The transcutaneous immunization patch provides a needle-free alternative to injected immunizations.” The biggest challenge for pharmaceutical companies that deliver immunization shots during flu-season is to have people actually attend to get their shots. By eliminating the fear of needles this creates a potentially larger percentage of people (most importantly, children) attend session to get their vaccine. The device containing the patch would simply just be placed on the persons arms and then with one push downwards a patch would be delivered onto the arm. Ultimately, this gives the public a little more comfort in knowing that they can get the medicine that they need without puncturing skin.
http://www.ideo.com/work/transcutaneous-immunization-delivery-method-for-iomai