needle-free vaccine

Needle-free Delivery for Infectious Disease

For decades, most vaccines have been delivered intramuscularly using needles. But is this the most effective approach? Intradermal (ID) delivery engages both the cellular and humoral arms of the immune system, often resulting in a stronger, longer-lasting immune response.1

Why Needle-free ID?

  • Needle-free further enhances access and coverage—while eliminating the risks of needle-stick injuries, needle reuse, and sharps waste management.2
  • The Tropis Needle-free System has been supplied to enable over 20 million intradermal injections, expanding reach in global polio vaccination campaigns.
  • Beyond polio, intradermal delivery has been validated for other vaccines such as COVID-193,4, Mpox5,6, and Rabies7,8, making them ideal candidates for needle-free administration with Tropis.
  • The opportunity extends even further: intradermal diagnostic tests, such as those used to detect latent tuberculosis infection, could potentially also benefit from Tropis needle-free technology.

Read our blog to learn how reduced dose intradermal delivery overcame the challenges of monkeypox vaccine shortages.

Polio

Since 2018, intradermal delivery of fractional-dose inactivated poliovirus vaccine (fIPV) has been a cornerstone of polio immunization efforts in Pakistan2, Nigeria9, and Somalia10. This approach has improved immunization coverage2,11, maximized limited vaccine supplies2, increased community acceptability2,11, enabled house-to-house vaccination campaigns9,10, and reduced overall immunization costs.11

Tropis has been supplied to enable over 20 million+ pediatric intradermal injections around the world most recently expanding into Afghanistan in support of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative.

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needle-free polio vaccine

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COVID-19

Tropis is the exclusive intradermal delivery system for two authorized novel COVID-19 vaccines:

  • The world’s first plasmid DNA COVID-19 vaccine for administration in humans from Zydus Lifesciences (ZyCoV-D), is exclusively delivered with Tropis based on pre-clinical and clinical study results that showed increased immune response of the vaccine translating into clinical effectiveness of ZyCoV-D12,13.
  • The world’s first self-amplifying mRNA-based Omicron-specific COVID-19 booster vaccine from Gennova Biopharmaceuticals (GEMCOVAC®-OM) to achieve emergency use authorization, allows a low dose of the first room temperature stable mRNA vaccine14

Pandemic Response

PharmaJet’s Needle-free Systems can help strengthen global readiness for future outbreaks by addressing critical challenges in vaccine delivery.

  • Tropis enables dose-sparing intradermal administration to stretch limited vaccine supply and optimize budgets.
  • Easy to use and train, and high user acceptability help overcome healthcare worker bottlenecks, while needle-free delivery simplifies field operations with faster, safer administration.
  • Backed by a proven regulatory pathway and scaled manufacturing, PharmaJet offers governments, funders, and partners a resilient solution that accelerates response and expands equitable access when every day counts.

Read our blog to learn why PharmaJet’s Needle-free delivery is ready to respond to future pandemics.

  1. 1. Hernández-Franco et al., 2021
  2. 2. Daly et al., 2020
  3. 3. Dey et al., 2021
  4. 4. Ydav et al., 2021
  5. 5. Frey et al., 2015
  6. 6. Frey et al,, 2026
  7. 7. Armbruster et al., 2019
  8. 8. Alberer et al., 2017
  9. 9. Biya et al., 2023
  10. 10. Nouh et al., 2024
  11. 11. Mohan et al, 2025
  12. 12. Momin et al., 2021
  13. 13. Khobragade et al., 2022
  14. 14. Saraf et al., 2024