Hamilton will become the homebase of a medical facility that will create needle-free vaccines for COVID-19. The proposed site at the Northshore Hamilton Priority Development Area is expected to bring 139 jobs and $497 million to the Queensland economy, with active production spanning 10 years.
Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk announced the partnership with Vaxxas, the manufacturer of the High-Density Micro-projection Array Patch (MAP) vaccine. A building from the Economic Development Queensland will be prepared for the medical company before the vaccine manufacture of 300 million patches every year beginning in 2022.
“For every parent worried about the anxiousness that comes with the delivery of a vaccine to a child through a shot, this technology has the potential to eliminate that anxiety,” Treasurer and Infrastructure and Planning Minister Cameron Dick said in a press statement.
Mr Dick also said that this facility will be significant to the economic recovery of the state from the pandemic as Queensland will attract highly-skilled jobs and advanced technology manufacturers.
The advanced technology entails a dry-coated vaccine patch to be applied to the skin. The vaccine deposits into the skin’s immune cells, which will create an efficient immune response. A doctor or a nurse won’t have to administer the patch.
Clinical trials at Australia’s Translational Research Institute in Woolloongabba show that the needle-free vaccines produce six times more antibodies within a short period compared to vaccines administered through the needle.
Vaxxas’ new vaccine has the support of the World Health Organisation, the pharmaceutical company Merck and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
