Mission accepted!
We made contact with our highly-trained scientists in their recombinant protein production lab. All to get the play-by-play on all things vaccine.
This is what we discovered. Cue the theme song.
Researchers across the globe explore thousands of different vaccine candidates every year. Each of them is designed to provide protection against a specific disease. These include influenza, meningococcal and novel coronaviruses like COVID-19. But of these candidates, very few actually make it to pharmacy shelves.
When a vaccine is in development, there are many stages. The process starts with safety testing and efficacy, clinical trials and approvals. Then it goes all the way through to the final process of commercial-scale production. Essentially, what worked in the lab must also have ‘manufacturability’ – meaning it can be manufactured with relative ease at minimum cost and maximum reliability. Especially in order to mass-produce the vaccine.
For more information, read the full article by CSIRO here.