Low-Cost COVID-19 Vaccine That Can Be Mass-Produced in Chicken Eggs Could Aid Low-Income Countries

By
Ashley Seek
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As of this writing, the plans for vaccination continue ever forward.

We already know that a whole bunch of our senior citizens have been getting vaccinated already.

And soon, those under age 45 will be able to book their slots too!

With various types of COVID-19 tests and vaccines, the future is looking promising so far.

Though, this new type of vaccine might be one of the most interesting so far.

Low-Cost COVID-19 Vaccine That Can Be Mass-Produced in Chicken Eggs Could Aid Low-Income Countries

When you think of eggs, what other examples of non-eating uses can you think of?

Well, in this case, said egg-xample could be using it for a low-cost COVID-19 vaccine called NDV-HXP-S.

In most cases, vaccines would need a lot of specially prepared ingredients in order to be made.

For the NDV-HXP-S, however, it can actually be mass-produced in a chicken egg.

But of course, you still need to test how safe a vaccine is first.

The first phase of clinical trials for the vaccine will finish in July and are currently being tested in Brazil, Mexico, Thailand and Vietnam.

Meanwhile, the final phase will take a few months longer. However, positive results on experiments with vaccinated animals seem to show a pretty good sign so far.

To Make It More Available

Unlike flu jabs, COVID-19 vaccines are a lot harder to come by.

This prompted organisations such as PATH to consider the chicken egg alternative to test if the latter could also be properly mass-produced.

That way, factories that produce the flu jabs could also generate the vaccines.

Scientists had already been experimenting with the Newcastle disease virus to create vaccines for a range of diseases.

One example was for an Ebola vaccine.

The scientists would insert the engineered virus into chicken eggs. Because it is a bird virus, it multiplied quickly in the eggs. The researchers ended up with Newcastle disease viruses coated with Ebola proteins.

At Mount Sinai, the researchers set out to do the same thing, using coronavirus spike proteins instead of Ebola proteins.

Thus, the NDV-HXP-S was born, though if you want to know the full process, you can check it out here.

PATH then arranged for a few thousand doses of it to be made in a Vietnamese factory that normally makes influenza vaccines in chicken eggs.

Promising Results and Testing Trial Phases

In October 2020, the factory sent the vaccines to New York to be tested.

And the results were pretty good, showing that it worked wonders on mice and hamster.

In fact, the researchers also found out that one egg can yield 5 to 10 doses of NDV-HXP-S.

PATH eventually linked up the Mount Sinai team with more influenza vaccine-makers.

On March 15 this year, Vietnam’s Institute of Vaccines and Medical Biologicals announced the start of a clinical trial of NDV-HXP-S.

A week later, Thailand’s Government Pharmaceutical Organisation did so too.

Brazil’s Butantan Institute would also ask for authorisation of clinical trials of NDV-HXP-S on March 26.

The Mount Sinai team has also licensed the vaccine to a Mexican vaccine-maker as an intranasal spray, or nose spray for us laymen.

However, some experts say that NDV-HXP-S won’t immediately help countries like Brazil with how overwhelming the cases are there.

Instead, the strategy will lean towards long-term vaccine production.

Regardless, if all tests go well, this could see a huge step forward in the fight against COVID-19!

Featured Image: NP27/ Shutterstock.com

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Ashley Seek
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