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. 2020 Sep 16;8(3):534. doi: 10.3390/vaccines8030534

Table 1.

An overview of different vaccination techniques for the dermal compartment, the device developed, and the vaccination targets investigated. Their current developmental stage and advantages and disadvantages are highlighted.

Technique Devices Vaccine Target Development Stage Advantages/Disadvantages
Needle adapter ID Adapter (West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc., USA) Poliovirus Commercially available Advantages:

  • Minimises changes to current clinical practice

  • Low costs

Disadvantages:

  • Does little to mitigate against fear of needles

  • Does not prevent needle-stick injuries
Microinjection

  1. BD Soluvia™ Micro Injection System (Becton Dickinson, USA)

  2. MicronJet600 device (NanoPass Technologies Ltd., Israel)

  3. VAX-ID® (Novosanis, Belgium)

  4. Immucise (Terumo corporation, Tokyo, Japan)

 Hepatitis B
Influenza

  1. FDA and CE approved

  2. FDA and CE approved

  3. Process of obtaining CE approval

 Advantages:

  • Minimises changes to current clinical practice

Disadvantages:

  • Separate device needs to be acquired for each injection

  • Does not prevent needle-related injuries
Microneedles 0 Hepatitis B
Hepatitis C
Influenza
Poliovirus
SARS-Cov-2
Shigellosis		 Phase 1 clinical trials Advantages:

  • Pain-free

  • Allows for self-administration

  • No sharps waste

Disadvantages:

  • Increased pruritus and erythema rates
Tattooing Multiple needle tattoo device or permanent make-up device HPV
HIV
Lyme disease
Melioidosis
Tuberculosis		 Phase 1 clinical trials Advantages:

  • Utilises commercially available devices

Disadvantages:

  • Does little to mitigate against fear of needles or reduce pain

  • Does not prevent needle-stick injuries
Jet and ballistic delivery

  1. PowderJect™ (PowderJect, Oxford, UK, acquired by Pfizer)

  2. Biojector 2000 (Bioject, USA)

  3. Bioject ZetaJet (Bioject, USA)

  4. Injex30 (Injex Equidyne, UK)

  5. PharmaJet Stratis (PharmaJet, USA)

  6. PharmaJet Tropis (PharmaJet, USA)

  7. Trigrid electroporation systems (Ichor medical systems, USA)

  8. Actranza™ (DAICEL Corporation, Japan)

 Dengue
Diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis
Hepatitis B
HPV
Influenza
Measles, Mumps and Rubella
Poliovirus
SARS-CoV-2
Rift Valley Fever virus

  1. FDA approved

  2. FDA approved

  3. FDA approved

  4. FDA approved

  5. FDA and CE approved

  6. CE approved

  7. Clinical trials

  8. Preclinical

 Advantages:

  • No sharps waste

  • Effective for DNA vaccines

  • Quick, suitable for mass vaccination

Disadvantages:

  • Painful

  • Costly to use
Transfollicular 0 Influenza Clinical/preclinical trials Advantages:

  • Does not disrupt the stratum corneum

  • No sharps waste

Disadvantages:

  • Tape stripping is painful and time consuming

  • Dependent on diffusion
Thermal ablation

  1. P.L.E.A.S.E.® (Precise Laser Epidermal System) (Pantec Biosolutions, Liechtenstein)

  2. UltraPulse® Fractional CO2 Laser (Lumenis Inc., UK)

 Influenza [188]

  1. Clinical trial

  2. CE approved, preclinical tests for vaccines

 Advantages:

  • No sharps waste

  • Ease of use

Disadvantages:

  • Two-step process

  • Increased risk of infection
Chemical enhancer 0 Diphtheria
Tetanus		 Preclinical trials Advantages:

  • No sharps waste

  • Ease of use

Disadvantages:

  • Frequent side effects

  • Increased risk of infection

  • Dependent on diffusion
Abrasion

  1. STAR Particles

  2. Microdermabrasion devices, e.g., MegaPeel® Gold Series (DermaMed International, Lenni, PA, USA)

 HIV
Tetanus
Vaccinia

  1. Preclinical studies

  2. FDA approved, preclinical studies for vaccines

 Advantages:

  • No sharps waste

  • Ease of use

  • Can use existing devices

Disadvantages:

  • Increased risk of infection

  • Likely not pain-free

  • Dependent on diffusion
Electroporation

  1. CELLECTRA® (Inovio, USA)

  2. Easy Vax™ delivery system (Cellectis Therapeutics, Paris, France)

  3. Medpulser™ DDS (Inovio, USA)

 Dengue
Lassa Virus
Hepatitis C
SARS-CoV-2

  1. Clinical trials

  2. Clinical trials

  3. CE approved

 Advantages:

  • Excellent at DNA vaccine transfection

Disadvantages:

  • Requires additional device

  • Painful
Iontophoresis

  1. ActivaPatch® (North Coast Medical, Inc., USA)

  2. Iontopatch® (IontoPatch, USA)

 Cancer in preclinical studies

  1. FDA approved

  2. FDA approved

  3. (neither are applied to vaccines)

 Advantages:

  • Pain-free

  • Allows for self-administration

  • No sharps waste

Disadvantages:

  • Patch needs to be worn for extended periods
Ultrasound 0 0 Preclinical trials Advantages:

  • Possibly pain-free

  • Intrinsic adjuvant

  • Suitable for DNA vaccines

  • No sharps waste

Disadvantages:

  • Requires novel device

  • May be time intensive