Felton Medical, Inc. of Lenexa, Kansas, and a team of Russian bioengineers recently signed an unprecedented agreement that will facilitate the immunization of more than one million children in Third World countries. With the help of a $1.4 million grant from the Department of Energy, the team will further refine a needle-free inoculation technology purchased by Felton Medical. The ground-breaking technology will allow the inoculation of up to 600 children per hour.

This technology, which uses high-speed propulsion to administer medications, will replace the inefficient and unsafe traditional method of inoculating children with needles in very-often primitive conditions. Not only are needles expensive, they are also difficult to handle. In many cases, medical workers have not had enough needles to inoculate as many children as needed the vaccine.

Not only does the project have the potential to save millions of children, but also it will provide non-military missions for weapons scientists and technicians from the former Soviet Union. The Kansas City Plant of the Department of Energy is facilitating the partnership through the Initiatives for Proliferation Prevention program, which encourages U.S. companies to employ scientists who formerly created weapons of mass destruction.

Felton Medical has applied for a host of national and international patents on the device and is nearly ready to apply for approval from the FDA as well. The World Health Organization as well as the Centers for Disease Control, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, the Program for Appropriate Technology for Health, and the University of Florida, have all contributed either financial or research and testing assistance to the effort.