While unused COVID vaccine doses have languished in rich nations like the U.S., most countries are struggling to secure vaccine supplies, period. But now, scientists are developing vaccines that might be way easier to access, especially in less wealthy countries where storage at ultra-cold temperatures just isn’t feasible. According to EurekAlert, they’re essentially turning plants and bacteria into vaccine factories.
The two vaccine candidates researchers created coaxed the immune system to churn out high levels of neutralizing antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 in mice, as detailed in a paper published in the Journal of the American Chemical Society today. While the findings are promising, it’s important to stress that they were observed in mice, whose biology is similar to ours — but not the same. Clinical trials are still a long way off, EurekAlert reported, but if they do show the vaccines to be safe and effective in humans, they could boost efforts to distribute COVID-19 vaccines more equitably.
