To mice when they sucked their blood, observed that insect-based vaccination was “just like a conventional vaccination but with no pain and no cost.”
Furthermore, lifelong high levels of protective immunity will be maintained via natural boosting by constant bite exposure. Thus, the bug becomes useful rather than a nuisance,” Yoshida said.
The research recognised that “medical safety issues and concerns about informed consent mitigate the use of the ‘flying vaccinator’ as a method to deliver vaccines,” notwithstanding the optimism expressed by the Japanese geneticist.
In addition to vaccinating patients without their informed agreement, no regulatory body would approve the program,
Robert Sinden, an emeritus professor of parasite cell biology at Imperial College London, told Science at the time.
The creation of flying vaccines was clearly not hampered by the question of informed consent, which seems to be a persistent concern.
