Among the various things, kids hate perhaps the needles used to vaccinate them against flu top the list. However, parents are helpless just like the medical communities while administering the flu vaccine and pushing the sharp needles into their tender skin. Various methods had been tried to deliver the vaccine painlessly to the body that includes both oral administration of the vaccine and nasal sprays. Both these methods of vaccination though painless have certain side effects. While the oral doses lose their efficacy when subjected to the harsh digestive enzymes as they enter the stomach, the nasal sprays can adversely affect the body’s central nervous system.
To make administration of flu vaccine painless yet with no side effects a group of Korean scientists of the International Vaccine Institute in Seoul has devised a unique method that has worked on mice. The vaccine will be put under the tongue that will enable the vaccine to get directly into the mucous membrane. From here the vaccine will spread into the body’s mucous tissues and finally to the immune system as a whole. This painless sublingual method of vaccination is being developed to work for humans. This method can make vaccination easier especially preventing spread of deadly influenza virus like the avian flu.
However, children as fastidious as they are would prefer the vaccines to come in tasty flavors to make mouthing them easier.
Source & image:msnbc