No-refrigeration, spray vaccine could curb diseases in remote areas

A new kind of single-dose vaccine that comes in a nasal spray and doesn’t require refrigeration could dramatically alter the public health landscape — get more people vaccinated around the world and address the looming threats of emerging and re-emerging diseases. Researchers presented the latest design and testing of these “nanovaccines” at the 247th National Meeting & Exposition of the American Chemical Society (ACS), the world’s largest scientific society. Their talk was one of more than 10,000 presentations at the meeting, being held at the Dallas Convention Center and area hotels. “Our nanovaccine approach could be instrumental for containing future outbreaks of recently emerged and re-emerging diseases, such as SARS, new flu strains and multi-drug resistant tuberculosis,” said Balaji Narasimhan, Ph.D., the project’s lead researcher. He noted that most of today’s vaccines require needles, boosters and refrigeration, all of which pose challenges for doctors and patients. Other than the pain factor, which can...