Vaccine Manufacturing Eggs

About Vaccine Manufacturing Eggs

Egg based vaccine manufacturing has been the backbone of influenza vaccine production since the 1940s. Hundreds of millions of chicken eggs are used annually for flu vaccine production. The process involves injecting influenza virus into fertilized chicken eggs, incubating for 2 to 3 days, harvesting allantoic fluid, and purifying the virus. Each egg yields only a small number of doses. Egg based production takes around six months, too slow for rapid pandemic response. Egg adaptation can cause mutations that reduce vaccine effectiveness. The H3N2 strain is particularly prone to egg adaptation. Cell culture and recombinant protein technologies offer faster and more accurate production. However, egg based manufacturing remains dominant due to low cost and established infrastructure. The COVID pandemic accelerated investment in alternative platforms. A pandemic involving avian influenza could disrupt egg supply for vaccine production.