A Question for Cecil [Are eggs essential for vaccine production?]

Factual Questions
1

If there were no eggs available for production of influenza/other crucial vaccines , would there then be worldwide epidemics as a result ?

2

Eggs are not the only growth medium that could be used to produce the vaccine; it’s just that eggs are readily available and cheap.

3

Title edited to indicate subject. Please use descriptive thread titles.

Colibri
General Questions Moderator

4

There are other methods for the production of influenza (and other) vaccines. One is a cell-culture method, where host cells from monkey kidneys, dog kidneys and human lung fibroblasts are used.
A second is rcombinant DNA, where genetic material from the pathogens are inserted into yeast or insect cells. This material impregnates itself into the host genetic material and causes the processes to make the antigenic proteins to turn on.

These other techniques are faster than egg based ones, and so would be useful in an epidemic, but I think they are more expensive right now. There are worries about host cells getting into the blood of vaccine recipients also.

My cite is my wife, who has a book on vaccines from ABC-Clio, from which I copied the above. PM me if you want the title.

5

According to the CDC’s 2015 “Pink Book” (Epidemiology and Prevention of Vaccine-Preventable Diseases, 13th Edition), the only vaccines made in eggs today are yellow fever and influenza vaccines. Measles-mumps-rubella vaccine is grown in cultures of chicken embryo fibroblasts, not in eggs.

Eggs are used to grow vaccines when they work better than any other medium, not because they are “readily available and cheap.” In fact, the availability of eggs is one reason for the intensive search for alternatives to eggs. Eggs for flu vaccine production must be embryonated and provided in great numbers at specific times each year–a logistical challenge for farmers. Any difference between the cost of using highly perishable embryonated eggs and conventional tissue culture techniques is inconsequential in the great scheme of things. In general, raw material costs contribute little to the cost of a vaccine. The development, testing, licensure, technology, facilities, labor, and distribution make up most of the cost.