Painless Shots

Coming this fall just in time for flu season, a tiny needle will be released to the U.S. by Sanofi Pasteur to almost completely free flu shot patients of pain and aches thanks to an approval by the FDA in May.

Since flu shots cause pain through the needle piercing the skin and going into the muscle, a new needle, created by Sanofi Pasteur, will only inject vaccine into the skin, which noticably reduces pain.

Here is a picture of this new needle, called the "Fluzone Intradermal Microinjector."

This needle is recognizably smaller than the old, standard needle used by doctors. It is one-tenth of the length and only the width of a human hair.

And since the needle only injects vaccine into the skin and there are more immune cells in skin then there are in muscles, less vaccine has to be used per shot. This could make a huge difference in how much vaccine we have available to patients in the United States.

So, hopefully this Fall when the shot comes to the U.S, more people will have easy access to flu shots. We might also be able to help out poorer, less fortunate countries who don't have flu shots available to them.

Overall, I think this is a great new invention and I give lots of credit to Sanofi Pasteur for making this because it will really help our world further advance with technology.

All of the information on this and more can be found here: http://www.popsci.com/technology/article/2011-07/incredible-shrinking-shot-needles-get-pain-free-makeover