The first coronavirus vaccine smart patch is now being developed by the team of British scientists from Swansea University. This device uses microneedles that could allow patients to administer the COVID-19 vaccine themselves and "measure its efficacy through monitoring the body's associated response," according to the university website.
The patch is capable of penetrating the skin to help administer the vaccine and would be secured to patient's arm for up to 24 hours. This would then be scanned to provide a data reading for researchers monitoring its efficacy.
"Measuring vaccine efficacy is extremely important as it indicates the protective effects of vaccination on an individual via the level of reduction of infection risk in a vaccinated person relative to that of a susceptible, unvaccinated individual. This measure of vaccination effectiveness will address an unmet clinical need and would provide an innovative approach to vaccine development," Dr. Sanjiv Sharma of Swansea University explained.
"The primary goal of this project is to create a prototype of smart vaccine delivery device that can not only deliver the COVID-19 vaccine transdermally but also monitor biomarkers in the skin compartment in a minimally invasive way, offering real-time information on the efficacy of the vaccination. The new method would change the way in which vaccine efficacy trials are performed from a statistical assessment to a scientific measurement of patient inflammatory response to vaccination," he added.
According to reports, a prototype will likely be released by March for clinical trial purposes.
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