Covid Vaccine Trial Using Needle-Free Shots Starts in U.K.
Covid Vaccine Trial Using Needle-Free Shots Starts in U.K.
(Bloomberg) -- A university in the U.K. is trialling a vaccine that uses needle-free technology to ease the delivery of Covid-19 shots.
The injection uses a jet of air that pushes the vaccination into the skin, offering a possible alternative to people who fear needle-based shots, the University of Southampton said in a statement Tuesday. The vaccine was created by the University of Cambridge’s DIOSvax technology and could be scaled up and manufactured as a powder if the trial is successful.
The vaccine “has both Covid-19 variants and future coronaviruses in its sights,” Saul Faust, a professor of paediatric immunity and infectious disease, said in the statement. The first phase of the trial will follow volunteers for 12 months.
Vaccine developers’ pursuit of a new generation of Covid shots is intensifying in the face of the omicron variant that has lead to spikes in infection in countries across the globe. GlaxoSmithKline Plc and CureVac NV are among pharmaceutical companies which aim to address multiple variants with a single vaccine.
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