Fridge-free vaccine candidates

Fridge-free vaccine candidates

Subject – Science and Tech

Context – Nanoengineers have developed Covid-19 vaccine candidates from plants or bacteria. They are also fridge-free — they do not need to be stored at extremely low temperatures.

Concept –

• Nanoengineers have developed Covid-19 vaccine candidates from plants or bacteria. They are also fridge-free — they do not need to be stored at extremely low temperatures.
• In mice, the vaccine candidates triggered high production of neutralising antibodies against SARS-CoV-2.
• The researchers created two vaccine candidates. One is made from a plant virus, called cowpea mosaic virus. The other is made from a bacterial virus, or bacteriophage, called Q beta.
• The vaccines are still in the early stage of development.