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Michael Schrader is CEO and Co-Founder of Vaxess Technologies, which is transforming vaccine delivery from needles and syringes to a skin patch delivery system. Their solution reduces the need to have mass vaccination sites, makes vaccines easier and cheaper to transport, and addresses the reluctance of patients to get a shot in the arm.  Using the protein polymer from silk, Vaxess is making patches with tiny protrusions that pierce the skin and allow the large molecule vaccines into the skin.

Michael explains, "I think what COVID really brought to the forefront and highlighted for all of us was that the needle and syringe has a lot of drawbacks. The first being that these COVID vaccines required refrigeration or freezing temperatures, which made storage very challenging. In order to get these vaccines to people, we actually had to ask them to congregate. So we came to mass vaccination sites, whether at hospitals or places like Gillette Stadium or Fenway park here in Boston. In the event of a pandemic outbreak, the last thing you want to do is ask folks to come together, but we had to do that because you needed a trained healthcare professional to administer the product."

"So when we take this patch, and we apply it to the patient's skin, it just barely breaks the surface of the skin - enough to allow the vaccine or other biologic drug into the skin. Those protrusions actually dissolve as they're letting go of the vaccine into the skin. Again, very similar to what you see from a nicotine patch. And after five minutes of wearing the patch, you can pull it off and throw it in the trashcan."

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