Measles has been in the news lately because many people choose not to have their kids vaccinated. Yet, there are many more folks around the world who would love to have the vaccine available but don’t because of lack of appropriate infrastructure. The vaccine requires professionals who can perform the injections, as well as for proper handling of sharps and the needed refrigeration. Researchers at Georgia Tech and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) are working on a patch that will make it easy for just about anyone to deliver the vaccine.

The patch has 100 cone shaped microneedles on the bottom that consist of a polymer, sugar, and the vaccine. The needles nearly painlessly penetrate the upper layers of the skin and dissolve, releasing the vaccine within a few minutes. There’s no scary looking syringes for kids to get worked up about and needle stick injuries would be a thing of the past.

source:Georgia Tech