New 3D printed vaccine patch offers greater protection than jabs

Tech

Scientists have developed a three-dimensional (3D) printed vaccine patch that provides greater protection than a typical immunisation shot.

The team at Stanford University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC) in the US applied the vaccine patch directly to the skin of animals, which is full of immune cells that vaccines target.

The resulting immune response from the patch was 10 times greater than vaccine delivered into an arm muscle with a needle jab, according to the study published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.