A majority of the currently available vaccines are delivered through injection. The disadvantage of this method is that the injections can only be administered by a trained health care professional [1]. This hinders the delivery of the vaccine and people especially those who live in poor and developing countries suffer the most as there is no cost-effective method of delivering the vaccine. Another disadvantage is that needle stick injuries might occur and this might cause the transmission of infectious disease. There are instances when the health care professional might be distracted and they end up making a wrong injection or they might not find the vein they are looking for. This results in them making numerous injections before they can administer the vaccine. This jeopardizes the health of the individual receiving the vaccine as the needle pricks might get infected after leaving the hospital [2]. Individuals with needle phobia might avoid getting the vaccine as they are scared of being pricked by a needle. The phobia could increase the chances of them transmitting the disease or they can easily be infected.
The oral route is one of the most preferred routes of drug administration since it is more convenient, cost-effective, and offers ease of administration, which leads to increased patient compliance. However, there is also the problem of swallowing when the patient had difficulty swallowing especially for geriatric and pediatric patients who suffer the fear of choking. This has resulted in the development of safer and newer drug delivery systems like Oral Dissolvable Films (ODFs). The manufacturing process of current vaccines is generally expensive and this cannot be easily implemented in developing countries [1]. The dosage forms of the vaccines which are mainly glass vials or prefilled syringes are not cost-effective for transportation, large scale storage, and distribution. Therefore, when there are mass vaccination campaigns a majority of the vaccines will be damaged during transportation and this comes at a huge cost. The development of quick-dissolving thin films can assist in remedying this problem.
Using ODF, it is possible to develop and manufacture vaccines that can be easily transported, are compact in size and weight which will make the distribution of the vaccines much easy [3]. The safety of the vaccines is improved as there is no longer a need to store the vaccines in glass vials. The cost of manufacture is lowered as the vaccines are merely printed on a thin film and they are measured at the point of printing. Dosage accuracy is improved since the vaccines are already pre-measured and there is no need for reconstitution [2]. Large scale storage can be achieved as the film strips are thin and they occupy less space. Developing countries will benefit the most from this technology as the countries can now massively distribute the vaccines and have them being administered at home. The need for a professional health care worker to administer the vaccine is eliminated, which makes the delivery more efficient, and more people can be vaccinated. The challenge of delivering the vaccine to hundreds...…need for it to be chilled before or during transportation.
The students noted there is a need for further refinement to maintain the viability of the vaccine. Also, the reasoning behind the use of polymer coating is to protect the vaccine against stomach acid and have it been released in the small intestines. To achieve this, they employed a pH-responsive polymer that would only deliver the medical payload once the acid-alkaline level in the environment is appropriate. This technology demonstrates the viability of using ODF for vaccines and there is no limitation as to the use of ODF. Seeing that it is possible to regulate when the medical payload can be delivered, we can develop any vaccine required and have it released when it gets to its destination. The cost reduction involved could save lives and reduce the infant mortality rates experienced by developing nations and in areas where medical services are not widely available.
The vaccines can be 3d printed or they can ink-jet printed. This would make the vaccine viable for long periods as has been shown by the Ebola vaccine [7]. The researchers found films of the vaccine that were three years old and when they rehydrated the films and tested them, they discovered they were still capable of inducing an immune response. Therefore, there is evidence supporting the use of film to store vaccines for long periods without the need for refrigeration. The vaccines will leave a healthy global population and they will not have any adverse environmental effect.
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References
[1] Uddin, M.N., et al., Overview and Future Potential of Fast Dissolving Buccal Films as Drug Delivery System for Vaccines. Journal of Pharmacy & Pharmaceutical Sciences, 2019. 22: p. 388-406.
[2] Tian, Y., et al., Development of an Orodispersible Film Containing Stabilized Influenza Vaccine. Pharmaceutics, 2020. 12(3): p. 245.
[3] Borges, A.F., et al., Oral films: Current status and future perspectives II-Intellectual property, technologies and market needs. J. Control. Release, 2015. 206: p. 108-121.
[4] Morales, J.O. and D.J. Brayden, Buccal delivery of small molecules and biologics: of mucoadhesive polymers, films, and nanoparticles. Current Opinion in Pharmacology, 2017. 36: p. 22-28.
[5] Inskeep, T.K., et al., Oral vaccine formulations stimulate mucosal and systemic antibody responses against staphylococcal enterotoxin B in a piglet model. Clinical and Vaccine Immunology, 2010. 17(8): p. 1163-1169.
[6] Saroja, C., P. Lakshmi, and S. Bhaskaran, Recent trends in vaccine delivery systems: a review. International journal of pharmaceutical investigation, 2011. 1(2): p. 64.
[7] Zhu, X., et al., 3D printing promotes the development of drugs. Biomedicine & Pharmacotherapy, 2020. 131: p. 110644.
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