Question: Do you think that in the future injections would not be necessary, as in there could be pills or other vaccines that enter your body without them? 👍

Robert Ives answered on 22 Apr 2020:

Hi. Good question. I don’t like injections much (who does)? There are already a number of ways of giving medicine and taking blood samples without using a needle for injection. Some of these are not very good but others do show promise. There are lots of companies on line who claim they have alternatives to injections, but it isn’t always that simple. The first thing to consider is if we are giving medicine (e.g. a vaccine), how much of it do we need to give (volume). Also, if we are collecting a blood sample, then how much blood do we need? Most alternatives can only give or take small amounts.
There has been a technology around for many years that uses high pressure air to ‘blow’ small amounts of medicine through the surface of the skin and into the tissues beneath. However, this can only be used for small amounts and certain types of medicine (the way the medicine is made might have to be changed to work in the new device). This is likely to be much more expensive than using a normal needle, so has never really become popular. Medicines can already cost a small fortune without making them even more expensive.
In the last few years, some hospitals have started to use something called microneedle patches to administer medicine. These are a bit like a plaster with a rough surface (like sand paper or velcro) that are pressed on to the skin and ‘painlessly’ (you might feel a very light scratch, but not pain) administer the medicine – the speed at which the medicine is given can also be controlled by the patch. This technology can now also collect small blood samples from capillaries (tiny blood vessels), avoiding the need to use a needle. Unfortunately, if a large blood sample is needed, a regular needle would still need to be used.
Pills and medicine you breathe in can be used, but not for all types of medicines. Some medicines (particularly many of the vaccines) won’t work very well if given as a tablet as they can be broken down or become deactivated in the gut. Other times, medicine needs to be given directly into the bloodstream, where it can act much faster. A medicine in the bloodstream circulates the entire body within a matter of seconds
So, there are ‘needleless’ methods available and more are being developed. If enough people ‘really really really’ want them, they might become more readily available, but for the moment it’s needles I’m afraid. Used correctly, needles are a safe, cheap and very effective way of administering medicine and collecting samples.
Would be great not to need them though, right?