Bam!

Given a choice between a bullet fired at 50 paces and a vaccine-loaded hypodermic needle at 5 inches, there's an awful lot of people who'd rather take their chances with a distant .38.

Nobody likes needles.

Especially not small children, as anyone will attest who's had her legs pummeled by a pair of cowboy boots wielded by a panicked 2- or 3-year-old. And there's an entire regimen of needed childhood immunizations for kids.

Every year, some 70 million Americans get a flu shot - yet influenza still kills 20,000 and sends about 100,000 to the hospital each year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Millions of diabetics make their condition worse by skipping insulin injections. That's a particularly alarming situation when you consider that 17 million Americans - some 5 percent of South Dakotans - have diabetes. Diabetes is a silent disease that can result in blindness, kidney or heart disease, amputation and death if not controlled. Regular insulin injections help provide that control.

Belonephobia - fear of needles - can be severe enough in some cases to warrant people being sedated due to the fear and anxiety brought on by the thought and/or sight of a needle.

How about substituting calming news for sedation?

Here goes: A Maryland-based company, MedImmune Inc., is awaiting approval from the Food and Drug Administration for its nasal flu vaccine - hopefully in time for the upcoming flu season. Wouldn't that be a treat!

Many doctors say pain-free delivery would encourage more vaccinations.

And inspired by dreams of profit, a number of biotechnology companies are working to develop what they call alternative delivery systems. To the rest of us, it's a no-shot shot.

Instead of bracing for the jab - we merely breathe.