NEEDLE HATERS, REJOICE

If, like me, you have a dread of being poked by doctors' needles, this is going to come as very welcome news.  In the near future, dreaded vaccinations could be as simple as sticking a Band-Aid—painless and do-it-yourself. Early tests of skin-patch vaccines are beginning in hundreds of volunteers; one version designed to protect against the flu and another to prevent travelers' diarrhoea.  A day will soon come when the mailman, not a doctor, will deliver flu vaccines during a pandemic.

Once a vaccine is brewed, patches can simply be mailed to people's homes with instructions to slap one on. This is a fairly simple procedure: it involves removing a small area of dead skin with an included scraper containing a piece of sandpaper. The vaccine patch is then placed over the prepped skin and is worn for six hours, allowing the vaccine to travel into the body.

To get a little technical, the epidermis – or outer skin layer – contains Langerhans cells, which are a major component of the immune system. The Langerhans cells are activated by the presence of the vaccine; and migrate to the lymph nodes, creating an immune response.

Unlike syringe-based vaccines, patches wouldn't need refrigeration - nor pose the infection risk of reused needles, which is a continuing problem. Ain't modern medicine wonderful?