An Australian company is building something that could make the vaccine needle obsolete. A patch you press onto your skin like a sticker. The company is Vaxxas, a University of Queensland spinout based in Brisbane.
The problem
Needle fear is common, especially in kids, and it stops some people getting vaccinated at all. Needles also come with other baggage: most vaccines need cold storage and trained staff to give them, which adds cost and makes it hard to reach remote areas.
The fix
Vaxxas has built a high density microarray patch. It is a small patch covered in around 5,000 microscopic projections. Press it on and it delivers the vaccine into the skin, where there are lots of immune cells.
The company says the patch reduces the need for refrigeration and could one day allow people to vaccinate themselves at home.
The evidence so far
Vaxxas has run clinical trials, including for flu and COVID vaccines. Interim data from one trial reported strong antibody responses with no serious side effects. It is still early, and the patch has to prove itself at scale.
The backing
In August 2025 Vaxxas announced about $90M in new funding. That was made up of $49.2M in Series D equity, led by SPRIM Global Investments, and a $40M debt facility. LGT Crestone came in as a new investor, alongside existing backers OneVentures and Brandon Capital. The money is going toward commercialisation and manufacturing.
My read
No needle and less reliance on the fridge would change how vaccines get to people, especially in places where cold storage is hard. It is a long road from trial results to billions of doses, and biotech timelines are slow. But this is world-class research out of UQ being turned into a real manufacturing business in Brisbane.