# 'Airguns' instead of needles for shots **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 13, 2010, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/airguns-instead-of-needles-for-shots/560562 "2010-11-13T16:13:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Yarster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/7c8e57/32.png) [@Yarster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yarster)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2010, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/airguns-instead-of-needles-for-shots/560562/1 "2010-11-13T16:13:14Z")
I’ll start by telling you that as a 41 year old man who is not afraid of a lot of things, I really do not like going to the doctor to get shots. I have also heard that when they give shots in the military, they use some kind of fairly painless air gun device that does not use a needle. Presumably, this is done for all kinds of mass inoculations of the troops. I gather this works by somehow opening up pores in the skin and getting the drugs through. I have never seen such an airgun used in private healthcare settings, and when I have asked my wife who works in the industry, she seems to think it is because such a device is only economically feasible if you are giving lots of shots of the same thing to lots of people. To this I ask, “then why not give a flu shot this way?” since that seems to fit the criteria. She didn’t have an answer, so I ask the teeming millions. What gives? ---
**Author:** ![Rhythmdvl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/85f322/32.png) [@Rhythmdvl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhythmdvl)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2010, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/airguns-instead-of-needles-for-shots/560562/2 "2010-11-13T16:30:18Z")
If it matters, I remember being told they were using an air gun during the Swine Flu hullabaloo in the late 70s. This was a large space (high school auditorium or something) where lots of people were getting the vaccine. ---
**Author:** ![Harmonious\_Discord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/74df32/32.png) [@Harmonious\_Discord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harmonious_Discord)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2010, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/airguns-instead-of-needles-for-shots/560562/3 "2010-11-13T16:32:37Z")
I looked into this a while back. I believe the answer was that some contagious illnesses were also transferred from patient to patient when those mass inoculations with the air injections were done. ---
**Author:** ![Harmonious\_Discord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/74df32/32.png) [@Harmonious\_Discord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harmonious_Discord)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2010, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/airguns-instead-of-needles-for-shots/560562/4 "2010-11-13T16:37:31Z")
Here you go. [Hepatitis C From Jet Gun Injections](http://www.hcvets.com/data/transmission_methods/jet_injection.htm) ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2010, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/airguns-instead-of-needles-for-shots/560562/5 "2010-11-13T16:57:30Z")
I got measles vaccine that way, in Chicago Public School, in the 1960s. James Monroe School, in point of fact. ---
**Author:** ![Diver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/858c86/32.png) [@Diver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diver)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2010, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/airguns-instead-of-needles-for-shots/560562/6 "2010-11-13T17:39:01Z")
I don’t know if the newer guns are any better now than they were back in the early sixties when I was in the military but those things hurt a lot more than the needles back then. A lot of the needles used today are much smaller than they used to be and I often can’t even feel a shot now. ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2010, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/airguns-instead-of-needles-for-shots/560562/7 "2010-11-13T18:04:59Z")
For whatever reason, one doctor gave me the option to have one used on me many years ago. I wasn’t aware that their use was so rare. Personally, I hated it. It’s not painless and the pain lasts longer than a needle. ---
**Author:** ![picunurse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7bcc69/32.png) [@picunurse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/picunurse)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2010, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/airguns-instead-of-needles-for-shots/560562/8 "2010-11-13T18:14:25Z")
They weren’t easy to use and if not used properly, could cause injury. I still have a scar from getting a yellow fever vaccine in 1965. ---
**Author:** ![Diver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/858c86/32.png) [@Diver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diver)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2010, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/airguns-instead-of-needles-for-shots/560562/9 "2010-11-13T18:22:49Z")
> [@picunurse](#): > > They weren’t easy to use and if not used properly, could cause injury. I still have a scar from getting a yellow fever vaccine in 1965. Yeah if you flinched they could cut a pretty good gash. I am surprised they used a gun for the yellow fever shot. As I recall that one was cold and there was a lot of liquid that took some time to inject. Sounds like a recipe for disaster with an air gun. ---
**Author:** ![Chessic\_Sense](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7c8e57/32.png) [@Chessic\_Sense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chessic_Sense)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2010, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/airguns-instead-of-needles-for-shots/560562/10 "2010-11-13T18:40:34Z")
From everyone that’s ever had an injection by those things, I’ve heard that they hurt a lot more than a needle. And a lot of people get cuts/scars from not having the opening lined up correctly with the skin. ---
**Author:** ![Harmonious\_Discord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/74df32/32.png) [@Harmonious\_Discord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harmonious_Discord)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2010, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/airguns-instead-of-needles-for-shots/560562/11 "2010-11-13T19:15:33Z")
I agree they hurt more than a needle. The area stays sore longer. ---
**Author:** ![outlierrn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/outlierrn/32/3005_2.png) [@outlierrn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/outlierrn)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2010, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/airguns-instead-of-needles-for-shots/560562/12 "2010-11-13T19:41:02Z")
Yeah, I remember those. You got your two cotton balls in one hand, your uniform blouse on the opposite shoulder, blood and innoculant dribbling down your are, good times. ---
**Author:** ![AmunRa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@AmunRa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AmunRa)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2010, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/airguns-instead-of-needles-for-shots/560562/13 "2010-11-13T19:45:59Z")
While I think the military did use air guns quite a bit in the past, we have long since gone back to needles. I never saw an air gun in my four years as a medic (06-10). ---
**Author:** ![robby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robby/32/11048_2.png) [@robby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robby)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2010, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/airguns-instead-of-needles-for-shots/560562/14 "2010-11-13T23:20:35Z")
> [@Yarster](#): > > I’ll start by telling you that as a 41 year old man who is not afraid of a lot of things, I really do not like going to the doctor to get shots. I have also heard that when they give shots in the military, they use some kind of fairly painless air gun device that does not use a needle. Presumably, this is done for all kinds of mass inoculations of the troops. I gather this works by somehow opening up pores in the skin and getting the drugs through. First off, a [jet injector](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jet_injector) doesn’t open up the pores of the skin; instead, it uses high pressure air to forcefully inject the vaccine right through your skin. IME, it hurts just as much as getting a needle injection. I got a vaccination via jet injector when I was in the Navy in the early 1990s. Then I heard about the possibility of blood-borne disease transmission from person to person, as well as the chance of laceration if you or the person giving the vaccination were to flinch. When I raised these concerns the next time I was part of a mass vaccination, I was told that I could always request a needle injection. So that’s what I always did after that. According the article linked to above, the U.S. military stopped using jet injectors in 1997 due to concerns about blood-borne disease transmission. ---
**Author:** ![Cubsfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Cubsfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cubsfan)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2010, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/airguns-instead-of-needles-for-shots/560562/15 "2010-11-13T23:56:40Z")
1995 got air gun injections in USAF basic training. The guy in front of me had his arm pretty much sliced open when he flinched. Big gush of blood in the process. He had a huge welt on his arm immediately afterwards. I remember it hurting pretty good. No better than a shot. Never seen one of those since. ---
**Author:** ![Yarster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/7c8e57/32.png) [@Yarster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yarster)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2010, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/airguns-instead-of-needles-for-shots/560562/16 "2010-11-14T01:31:24Z")
Thanks for that link **Robby**. My biggest nightmare is that my doctor is going to randomly tell me I have diabetes one day and need daily insulin injections. That would truly be a Hell on Earth for me given my phobia of needles. It sounds like the technology is improving, and I would take all the bruising and other nasty side effects over a needle any day given the choice. Then the next question is, how do you test your blood without having to prick yourself on the finger? Is there no way to do this with saliva? Yes, I know I’m a big pussy. Thanks for thinking that 😉 ---
**Author:** ![acetylene](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@acetylene](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/acetylene)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2010, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/airguns-instead-of-needles-for-shots/560562/17 "2010-11-14T02:38:41Z")
Yeah, it’s worse than a needle. I got cut by one in Army Basic Training in '87 because I flinched. ---
**Author:** ![RedWood](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f08c70/32.png) [@RedWood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RedWood)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2010, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/airguns-instead-of-needles-for-shots/560562/18 "2010-11-14T02:43:33Z")
ex-Navy here… got my airgun shots in 1981, they warned us to hold still or else! Nobody in my company was cut, but I think it hurt worse than needles. ---
**Author:** ![sco3tt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@sco3tt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sco3tt)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2010, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/airguns-instead-of-needles-for-shots/560562/19 "2010-11-14T03:11:07Z")
> [@Yarster](#): > > Thanks for that link **Robby**. My biggest nightmare is that my doctor is going to randomly tell me I have diabetes one day and need daily insulin injections. That would truly be a Hell on Earth for me given my phobia of needles. It sounds like the technology is improving, and I would take all the bruising and other nasty side effects over a needle any day given the choice. Then the next question is, how do you test your blood without having to prick yourself on the finger? Is there no way to do this with saliva? If that diagnosis ever comes down, you might not find it so bad. I’m diabetic and similarly needle-phobic, but it’s just a control issue for me. I can inject myself without hesitation but can’t stand having someone else come at me with a needle. I even flinch when I see someone else getting a shot. (Oh, and did you say daily? It’ll more likely be 2-5 times daily. Roll up those sleeves.) Re: glucose testing: Every six months or so I see another article on Engadget announcing a breakthrough regarding [this technology](http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=special-contact-lenses-co). The linked article is from 2003 so I’m not holding my breath expecting it to hit the market any time soon. ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2010, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/airguns-instead-of-needles-for-shots/560562/20 "2010-11-14T16:02:43Z")
My dentist experimented with one for injecting anasthesia. Said it left a hole in the gum. He abandoned it. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/airguns-instead-of-needles-for-shots/560562.md?page=2)