German scientists have demonstrated that the tattoo needle may be a more effective way of delivering vaccines than the standard injections. In tests on mice, the tattoo technique proved more successful in stimulating an immune response—tattooing a vaccine produced 16 times more antibodies in the mice.
Of course they didn’t actually imprint images of foxy ladies on their subjects. The vaccines took the place of the ink, and the scientists suspect that the rapidly vibrating needles, and the damage inflicted by them, were responsible for the boosted response.