Plant-made vaccines and reagents for the One Health initiative

Rybicki, Edward Peter

The live attenuated 17D yellow fever virus (YFV) vaccine has been both efficacious and regarded as safe since the 1930s, and is credited with saving possibly millions of lives. However, it is produced in eggs -meaning individuals with egg allergies may not safely receive the vaccine. There are other rare but serious risks for some, such as neurologic effects and organ failure. It is recommended that children under 6 months, the elderly and the immunocompromised, and pregnant or breastfeeding women should not receive the vaccine. 50 There are also concerns that, as with immunity to dengue, reactions to Zika virus infection could be exacerbated by prior immunity to YFV. While the existence of a live, monotypic, lifelong and highly successful vaccine has probably dampened most researchers' enthusiasm for researching a subunit alternative, it is interesting that the molecular farming contract manufacturer iBio Inc. has a collaboration with Fiocruz/Bio-Manguinhos of Brazil, to use their proprietary technology to manufacture a plant-made YFV vaccine. 51