Administration of vaccines by the intranasal route offers a number of benefits.
Intranasal vaccination, used successfully in veterinary medicine for years, has the potential to gain a reasonable share of the vaccination market within a few years. Intranasal delivery has a number of advantages over intramuscular and oral vaccines, particularly for special patient populations such as children and the elderly. Despite the introduction of fine hypodermic needles and prefilled syringes that make vaccine administration less painful and safer, patients and clinicians still associate injections with pain and with the possibility of an anaphylactic response. Needlestick injuries and disease transmission also pose significant threats.