I got my flu shot last week (common/garden flu not H1N1) and my arm was sore for a couple of days where the needle went in. Last night I started to read The Book of Lies (a thriller of the Da Vinci Code genre). In the first chapter a guy was killed by a shot of hemlock administered by a jet injector (or as it's sometimes called, especially on Star Trek but sometimes in the real world, a hypospray), which instead of using a needle uses high air pressure to force the dose right through the skin without puncturing it. That sent me down memory lane: back in the 1960s and 1970s I got a couple of immunizations (one was for the first swine flu back in 1976, the other was in grade school, I don't remember what I was being immunized against but I remember I got 2 shots because they didn't hold the first one against my arm just right), in mass clinics using such a device. Back then I was really panicky about needles and thought a device that could administer shots without breaking the skin (you do feel a little zap) was the greatest thing since sliced bread. So why don't they use these things at flu-shot clinics today? You'd think it would be a lot cheaper and greener than having to invest into thousands of one-use disposable syringes and Band-Aids ?

The military gives nasal mists for flu instead of needles. No needle sticks, but it feels weird to have someone squirt something up there for you.

whoa - talk about a flash back... I remember (now that you reminded me) getting one of those hypo sprays as a little kid on the 60's. I think it was a booster to the polio vaccine. Sucker hurt more than any shot ever did.

Me too! To this day, I remember being (falsely) reassured by the doctor and my mother that it was "only air," and wasn't a needle (implying that it wouldn't hurt as much). Not only was it the most painful innoculation I ever had, I remember it hurting for what seemed like forever. At least the rest of the day (though I want to say days).

I did find this quote from an online article.

"The problem is the fluid is shot in and permeats a considerable amount of muscle tissue, tearing it's way in. So while it's fast, it tends to hurt a lot more and for longer than a needle injection. And it bruises much more.

But that's not the worst of it. If the person flinches, pulls away, or doesn't have the nozzle pressed firmly and perpendicularly to the skin, the jet can make a nasty slice in your arm, wasting the shot and making a painful mess."

Thanks kaplods. You work in some sort of public health sector, don't you? I thought maybe you might have some insider knowledge. I don't remember that the hypospray zaps hurt that bad but they did sting (and at the grade-school shot clinic I had to get 2 shots because they didn't have the nozzle tight against the skin the first time). And today's needles are much finer-gauge than the ones from 30 and 40 years ago, so I can stand being stuck for an immunization, a blood draw or an IV. But that still doesn't completely address the issue of disposables. Perhaps Flumist is the way to go?

ETA: Wikipedia says the reason they used hypospray on Star Trek was because NBC censors wouldn't allow any show to portray hypodermic needles

My background is in psychology. I have worked in hospital settings, but mostly my medical background is self-taught beginning when I first started having all sorts of strange medical problems about ten years ago.

My guess is that how much a hypospray hurts is a function (besides individual pain tolerance) of the speed/force of the spray, and the type of medication. Even with needle innoculations, sometimes it isn't the needle, it's the medication that burns. I had to have a steroid injection in my knee (regular needle). I hardly felt the injection, but it burned something fierce as the medicine went into the knee. It was really horrible, because I needed three injections in different portions of the knee, and once I knew how badly the first one hurt, it was really difficult to let the doctor do the next two.

Thanks Kaplods for finally giving a very reasonable explanation to what was a horribly painful experience - my definition of shock and awwwwwww