Young people seek to reduce the number of waste generated by the vaccination process.

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This article was translated from our Spanish edition using AI technologies. Errors may exist due to this process.

Ithzel Cerón and Daniel López, Industrial Design students at Tec de Monterrey, Mexico City Campus, developed a pre-filled syringe for vaccination.

HELIX searches is designed to be manufactured only with a UV thermo-curable silicone, a highly resistant material. Currently, a conventional syringe is made of five materials: steel, polyethylene, rubber, resin, glue and heat dye, which makes it a more difficult hybrid to process.

“This project was born because we realized all the waste generated by a vaccine: the syringe, the vial and the medicine come in different packages. This is how we proposed a design in which the same syringe would already come pre-filled with the medicine to save us all those unnecessary packaging ”, Daniel López details.

Image: Courtesy HELIX

Among the advantages of this syringe, it stands out that it introduces marks imposed by the World Health Organization (WHO) in its design, in addition to taking better advantage of the opportunities for comfort and work for health personnel.

“The waste derived from vaccination must be incinerated due to the risks of contagion, so it is difficult to recycle these materials. We realized that it was easier to generate a syringe that you use and throw it as it is, so we would avoid risks and save processes for those who use them. When discarding a normal syringe, the waste must be separated, a complicated and risky process for health personnel, “Itzhel Cerón indicated.

HELIX, which is still under development, can be compacted using only 30% of the space compared to the conventional syringe, making storage easier and safer.