# What happened to th vaccine gun? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 23, 2012, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-th-vaccine-gun/638580 "2012-10-23T00:15:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Jinx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Jinx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jinx)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2012, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-th-vaccine-gun/638580/1 "2012-10-23T00:15:33Z")
Those about 10 years older than myself recall a “gun” used to deliver vaccinations. Although hard to believe, my sisters claimed it didn’t hurt. (Maybe they were distracted?) Anyway, whatever happened to the “gun”? My little one REALLY hates shots, so anything that could make it easier on all of us (including the doctor) would be a miracle! I googled around, and there are websites describing the device and how to order, but not its history as to why it seems unheard of today. I figured the SD, esp those in the medical profession, would know why this device does not seem to be the device of choice. - Jinx ---
**Author:** ![Bear\_Nenno](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bear_nenno/32/3358_2.png) [@Bear\_Nenno](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bear_Nenno)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2012, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-th-vaccine-gun/638580/2 "2012-10-23T00:19:32Z")
Concerns about sanitation and contamination? Wiki says it spreads Hepatitis. > **[Jet injector](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jet_injector)** > > A jet injector is a type of medical injecting syringe device used for a method of drug delivery known as jet injection, in which a narrow, high-pressure stream of liquid penetrates the outermost layer of the skin (stratum corneum) to deliver medication to targeted underlying tissues of the epidermis or dermis ("cutaneous" injection, also known as classical "intradermal" injection), fat ("subcutaneous" injection), or muscle ("intramuscular" injection). > The jet stream is usually generated by the p... ---
**Author:** ![excavating\_for\_a\_mind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e8c25b/32.png) [@excavating\_for\_a\_mind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/excavating_for_a_mind)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2012, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-th-vaccine-gun/638580/3 "2012-10-23T01:01:36Z")
I got the 1st swine flu vaccine from one in 1976. Hurt like hell and left a bruise on my arm the size of a quarter. Not just a “surface bruise”, but a deep one; it went about halfway through my arm. I’ve never objected to an injection since. Well, not a vaccination injection, anyway. I had a root canal done about 5 years ago where the endodontist ended up giving me something 6 injections of anesthetic. The stuff kept squirting out of the injection site when he removed the syringe. Not only was my jaw feeling a bit sore from the repeated jabs, but that anesthetic tastes nasty! Before the last one, he told me that if this one didn’t take, he would have to let my jaw heal and try again in a week or two. It was the last attempt, since that one took. Seriously, it took longer to administer the anesthetic than to perform the root canal. But, that gun, at least the one they used in the 70’s, was evil. I’d take a needle any day. excavating (for a mind) ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2012, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-th-vaccine-gun/638580/4 "2012-10-23T01:17:22Z")
Yeah, their supposed advantage was that they didn’t need the sanitation requirements of needles - you could just pow, pow, pow away at a row of soldiers or school kids or other victims. Turned out to be true only in a field-hospital, pre-AIDS sort of way; the blowback from the injection puff sprayed small amounts of blood and tissue back on the nozzle. Congratulations, son, you’ve been innoculated against flu and with Hep B… I was of that age but never had a pneumatic vaccination. My dad did, and I still remember him saying, “Hell, yes!” when I asked him if it hurt. So we still stick bits of metal in our victims to cure them. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2012, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-th-vaccine-gun/638580/5 "2012-10-23T01:41:39Z")
> [@NitroPress](#): > > I was of that age but never had a pneumatic vaccination. My dad did, and I still remember him saying, “Hell, yes!” when I asked him if it hurt. Hell yes, indeed it hurt! ---
**Author:** ![Vicullum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/6de8d8/32.png) [@Vicullum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Vicullum)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2012, 3:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-th-vaccine-gun/638580/6 "2012-10-23T03:57:32Z")
Brace yourself though: it may be making a [comeback](http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2012/needleless-injections-0524.html). ---
**Author:** ![sidecar\_jon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a5b964/32.png) [@sidecar\_jon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sidecar_jon)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2012, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-th-vaccine-gun/638580/7 "2012-10-23T14:02:44Z")
I worked for a time (late 70’s)at a hospital where they thought it a great idea to give all the nurses flue shots with a gun thing…not so great as more than half the poor nurses immunised in one day ended up with swollen arms and incapable of work for weeks. ---
**Author:** ![Scumpup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce73a5/32.png) [@Scumpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scumpup)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2012, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-th-vaccine-gun/638580/8 "2012-10-23T14:15:43Z")
I remember running a gantlet of guys armed with those things when I reported to basic training. IIRC we got three in the left arm and two in the right arm, or was it two in the left and one in the right? Anyway, all but one of them were vaccines. The last one was an antibiotic they gave us just because. Those injections hurt like a dirty SOB and young soldiers are sadistic in their humor, so there was a lot of arm punching over the ensuing several days. ---
**Author:** ![Soylent\_Juicy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/82dd89/32.png) [@Soylent\_Juicy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Soylent_Juicy)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2012, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-th-vaccine-gun/638580/9 "2012-10-23T14:19:17Z")
Is that what made the scar that just about everybody in my generation and older has on their upper arm? ---
**Author:** ![Algher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Algher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Algher)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2012, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-th-vaccine-gun/638580/10 "2012-10-23T14:21:41Z")
I had the same experience as Scumpup in the late 80s ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2012, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-th-vaccine-gun/638580/11 "2012-10-23T14:21:48Z")
> [@Soylent\_Juicy](#): > > Is that what made the scar that just about everybody in my generation and older has on their upper arm? No, they whacked off a hunk of skin and vaccinated us against…TB? Smallpox? ---
**Author:** ![GilaB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8e7dd6/32.png) [@GilaB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GilaB)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2012, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-th-vaccine-gun/638580/12 "2012-10-23T15:23:31Z")
> [@Soylent\_Juicy](#): > > Is that what made the scar that just about everybody in my generation and older has on their upper arm? Do you mean something that looks like [this](https://www.sciencephoto.com/media/476203/view)? That’s from the BCG tuberculosis injection. ---
**Author:** ![Sigene](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df788c/32.png) [@Sigene](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigene)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2012, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-th-vaccine-gun/638580/13 "2012-10-23T15:48:29Z")
> [@GilaB](#): > > Do you mean something that looks like [this](https://www.sciencephoto.com/media/476203/view)? That’s from the BCG tuberculosis injection. I believe the scar is from small pox vaccinations, not BCG. ---
**Author:** ![Ruby\_Slippers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/94ad74/32.png) [@Ruby\_Slippers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruby_Slippers)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2012, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-th-vaccine-gun/638580/14 "2012-10-23T15:56:30Z")
> [@Sigene](#): > > I believe the scar is from small pox vaccinations, not BCG. If you look closely at the picture, there are two vaccination scars, a small one at the top and a larger one at the bottom. I’m guessing that the smaller one is a smallpox vaccination – I’ve got one of those and that’s pretty much what it looks like. But the caption only discusses one scar and doesn’t identify which one. ---
**Author:** ![Shinna\_Minna\_Ma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f08c70/32.png) [@Shinna\_Minna\_Ma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shinna_Minna_Ma)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2012, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-th-vaccine-gun/638580/15 "2012-10-23T17:11:20Z")
Ahhh yes, we had these in elementary school when we were immunized against German measles. I remember sitting in the classroom afterwards, all of us holding our arms in pain, and some of the girls were crying. ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2012, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-th-vaccine-gun/638580/16 "2012-10-23T17:25:59Z")
> [@GilaB](#): > > Do you mean something that looks like [this](https://www.sciencephoto.com/media/476203/view)? That’s from the BCG tuberculosis injection. Quite visible on Brad Pitt in **Troy** set in the 13c. BC. “Millions for CGI, not a penny for spackle.” ---
**Author:** ![Kimballkid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b5a626/32.png) [@Kimballkid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimballkid)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2012, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-th-vaccine-gun/638580/17 "2012-10-23T19:33:24Z")
> [@Scumpup](#): > > I remember running a gantlet of guys armed with those things when I reported to basic training. IIRC we got three in the left arm and two in the right arm, or was it two in the left and one in the right? Anyway, all but one of them were vaccines. The last one was an antibiotic they gave us just because. Those injections hurt like a dirty SOB and young soldiers are sadistic in their humor, so there was a lot of arm punching over the ensuing several days. Back in 1986 I seem to remember one right and two left. I didn’t think it hurt that much but I had been warned beforehand to remain very still or it would cut your arm. I also seem to recall being told not to tense up, that may be why it hurt so much for some people. ---
**Author:** ![Darth\_Panda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ee7513/32.png) [@Darth\_Panda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darth_Panda)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2012, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-th-vaccine-gun/638580/18 "2012-10-23T19:37:38Z")
What kind of range do those things have? Could they be used against the anti-vac crowd? ---
**Author:** ![Szlater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/90ced4/32.png) [@Szlater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Szlater)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2012, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-th-vaccine-gun/638580/19 "2012-10-23T19:49:43Z")
> [@Darth\_Panda](#): > > What kind of range do those things have? Could they be used against the anti-vac crowd? You need the added penetrating power of a dart gun, to get it through their tough skins. ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2012, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-th-vaccine-gun/638580/20 "2012-10-23T20:06:08Z")
> [@Slithy\_Tove](#): > > Quite visible on Brad Pitt in **Troy** set in the 13c. BC. > > “Millions for CGI, not a penny for spackle.” At least nobody was wearing a watch, right? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-th-vaccine-gun/638580.md?page=2)