FACT BRIEF

Are scientists developing a skin patch COVID-19 vaccine?

Friday, January 8, 2021

By Lauralei Singsank

Copy link

Copy featured image

YES

At least two teams of scientists have begun work on painless skin patch vaccines for COVID-19.

In early 2020, scientists at the University of Pittsburgh developed fingertip-sized patches that appear capable of neutralizing the new coronavirus when tested on mice. The vaccine development moved quickly due to previous research on similar coronaviruses.

Unlike experimental mRNA vaccines, this skin patch uses lab-made pieces of viral protein, a traditional technique in vaccine production. The patch is made up of 400 microneedles that deliver the protein into the skin, dissolving afterwards. The vaccine is still in development at this time.

This month, scientists at Swansea University also announced that they have begun research on a microneedle delivery patch, which serves to both vaccinate and measure the efficacy of vaccination through protein biomarkers.

This fact brief is responsive to conversations such as this one.

Sources

UPMC: Skin patch COVID-19 vaccine

The Lancet: Microneedle array-delivered coronavirus vaccines

Swansea University: Microneedle skin patches to administer vaccines

PBS: How a painless patch could one day deliver vaccines

ABOUT THE CONTRIBUTOR

Gigafact

Between 2020 and 2022, under close editorial supervision, Gigafact contracted a group of freelance writers and editors to test the concepts for fact briefs and provide inputs to our software development process. We call this effort Gigafact Foundry. Over the course of these two years, Gigafact Foundry writers published over 1500 fact briefs in response to claims they found online. Their important work forms the basis of Gigafact formats and editorial guidelines, and is available to the public on Gigafact.org. Readers should be aware that while there is still a lot of relevant information to be found, not all fact briefs produced by Gigafact Foundry reflect Gigafact's current methods and standards for fact briefs. If you come across any that you feel are out of date and need to be looked at with fresh eyes, don't hesitate to contact us at support@gigafact.org.

FACT BRIEF BY

Latest fact briefs

About fact briefs published on Gigafact

Fact briefs are short, credibly sourced summaries that offer “yes/no” answers in response to claims found online. They rely on publicly available, often primary source data and documents. Fact briefs are created by contributors to Gigafact —a nonprofit project looking to expand participation in fact-checking and protect the democratic process. See all fact briefs here.