One of the things we love most from writing this blog is the new things we discover each day. However, a lower cost COVID vaccine hatched in a chicken egg deserves a prize all of its own. The U.S. Library of Public Medicine kindly provided today’s image, courtesy of the American Chemical Society that’s dedicated to chemistry for life.
Three Ways to Make a Vaccine – What’s Best for the Market?
The oldest, original way is to breed the virus in a chicken egg, and then isolate the key ingredients in the outer layer. More modern alternatives include using cell-based pathways, and the recombinant method which stimulates immune reactions.
Now those last two methods require specialized factories producing more expensive vaccines. Whereas the old-fashioned chicken egg method works out cheaper, and could produce a lower cost COVID vaccine. The University of Texas in Austin has found a way to do just that, and number-plate-labelled it NDV-HXP-S.
We have this on good authority from New York Times, which says the vaccine is entering trials in Brazil, Mexico, Thailand, and Vietnam. According to them, the ‘game changer’ vaccine is ‘widely expected to create more potent antibodies than the current generation of vaccines. And the new vaccine could be far easier to make and store.’
Looking to a Future with a Potentially Lower Cost COVID Vaccine
New York Times says producers could potentially turn out well over a billion doses of the vaccine a year. But first, it must prove safe and effective, which is what the trials are for. The first of these should finish in July 2021, with the finals taking several months more.
However, New York Times reports experiments with vaccinated animals have already raised hopes. ‘It’s a home run for protection,’ trial coordinator Bruce Innis of PATH Center for Vaccine Innovation and Access believes. ‘I think it’s a world-class vaccine.’
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Preview Image: Three Ways to Make a Vaccine
American Chemical Society: The Flu Shot and the Egg
New York Times: A Low-Cost Covid-19 Vaccine
