12 thoughts on “TED Talk: How are eggs used in (influenza) vaccine production?

  1. Hi Anita!! I really loved your talk!
    I’ll be honest, my eyebrows shot up when I read your title. This is such a cool topic, but it’s so specific. I genuinely had no idea that vaccines were grown in eggs, so thank you for teaching me about that and about vaccines! I loved your presentation – everything was so clean and organized and the way you presented the information in such a simple and factual way really captured my attention and helped all the info stick in my mind. The visuals were also so helpful and relevant (I loved the highlighting of the diagram)!

    My question is a sort of 2 in 1. Do you believe that using chicken embryos is ethical, and do you think manufacturers might try to find another solution due to the rise in popularity of the vegan/vegetarian diet? I can imagine a lot of people who refuse to eat animal products objecting to this method of vaccination preparation. I’d love to hear your thoughts, since you’re the expert, and thank you so much in advance!

    Thanks for teaching me so much about such an important topic and piquing my curiosity!

    – Bana

    1. Hello Bana! Aw your comment is so touching and kind! My pleasure 🙂 Also thanks for calling me an expert, although really I’m not quite there yet

      You also have a really great question that requires a lot of thought to answer! Really everybody has such thoughtful questions and comments 🙂 Anyway, my answer is that no, I do not think using chicken embryos is ethical. In fact, simply how chickens are raised nowadays–in cramped cages with only 1 square foot of their own space for their whole entire life-is hugely unethical, as many people are concerned about which is what makes free-range eggs so popular lately. So just the egg production to get the eggs for them vaccines alone contributes to that.
      You also mentioned the aspect of the vegetarian/vegan diet which is a really good point. The answer to whether manufacturers will find another solution, is that there are in fact already other methods of vaccine production. Egg-based vaccine production is just the main method, most trusted/effective/used. The other two methods which I didn’t get to talk about are animal inoculation and the cell culture method (done with animal cells). However both of these methods are also still animal based so that doesn’t really solve the vegetarian problem! Yes you are right I could imagine some people objecting to getting vaccinated when they learn that they are animal-based! Wow I never thought about that, I think manufacturers might have to start thinking about that…thank you for the amazing question Bana!
      From Anita

  2. Hi Anita! I had no idea that eggs played such a significant role in our heath and the production of viruses for vaccines. Most of the questions I had were answered during the presentation, but I am wondering what happens when an egg breaks when the virus is inside?
    -Makenna

    1. Hello Makenna! I know, it’s surprising isn’t it?! Before starting my inquiry on eggs I had no idea either.

      Your question is as super smart one! The answer is that it would be a broken egg with lots of virus in it. Which means you would get infected if you ever ate it! So that’s why they have to be super careful and clean when they break the eggs to extract all the replicated virus! And then they purify it and inactivate it and everything, and it becomes the antigen for our vaccines. It is a very interesting process–nice question again!

      Anita

  3. Hey Anita, really cool project! I liked how you included so many pictures and graphs to show what you were explaining. Your ted talk was really educational and informative, and I learned a lot. A question I had was why in the 1940s, the military would be producing vaccines? Shouldn’t there be a health organization to make vaccines for the military and the general public?

    1. Thank you so much for your comment Annie! Your nice comment (including everybody else’s!) has made my day

      In response to your question, there was actually no health organization back then in the 1940s to make vaccines yet, because vaccines weren’t even used/invented yet! How it goes is that in 1931 Goodpasture discovered egg inoculation, which you could say is the beginning of vaccines, and then in the 1940s the military was the people who made the actual first vaccine. I didn’t mention it that way in my talk, silly me! So the (US) military was the first to produce a vaccine, and then it wasn’t until after that did inactivated vaccines for influenza get approved for the general public. I hope that clears some confusion!
      Digging deeper, the US military only decided to investigate/further develop Goodpasture’s work on vaccines/virus-growing, because of the war (WWII). It was because they knew diseases like influenza could kill just as many of their soldiers as any other enemy. So really, the reason we have vaccines today is because it was invented during war for soldiers so they could fight immune!

      Thanks for you question and comment again Annie!

      Anita

  4. Hi Anita, you did a great job on your presentation! I could tell you spent a lot of time researching your topic by how well you were able to explain each point during your presentation. I have never been asked if I am allergic to eggs while I got a vaccine, I found it to be very educational.
    My question is how does the virus infect the chicken egg (and other types of eggs) if it is only meant to infect humans?

    1. Hello Lucas! Thank you for your comment and for noticing my research! To be honest I don’t remember having ever been asked about an egg allergy while getting a flu shot either…

      Anyhow, you have a really great question that I never thought about. I am not 100% sure but I think the virus actually can infect other organisms other than humans, if they have the right type of cell. And chicken eggs have the right type of cells where the virus is able to latch onto the DNA and start replicating.

      From Anita

  5. Hi Anita, really cool topic! I really liked how you kept it interesting for the listeners/watchers during your TALONSTalk. I do have one question though. I was wondering if we could make vaccines in other types of bird eggs? Would the vaccine be different if we used a different type of egg?

    1. Hello Clara!

      I am so flattered by your comment that you think I kept my talk interesting! I am so happy to hear that. To answer your question, yes, we could make vaccines in other types of bird eggs. As long there are cells with DNA for the virus to take over and start replicating. Your other question of whether the vaccine would be different if we used a different type of egg is a very good question. I don’t know the answer to that, although I do know that in Australia they use hen eggs instead of chicken eggs as the US does for their vaccines, and there seems to be no significant difference in their vaccines. But great question, I might do some more research on that and report back to you!

      Anita

  6. Hi Anita!
    Awesome presentation! Your topic was really interesting, I always wondered why we were asked about egg allergies every time we got vaccines. I really liked your speech and the words you chose. They really engaged me in your topic and you weren’t monotone either so I thought that that was really cool! I was wondering, is it only chicken eggs that can help produce vaccines? Why not lizard or ostrich eggs?
    Thankyou!
    – Kalayla

    1. Thank you for your comment Kalayla! I’m glad my talk was enjoyable for you.

      The answer to your great question as far as I know is that only hen and chicken eggs are used to produce vaccines, because that’s the easiest and most readily available kind of egg we can get our hands on–remember we need millions of eggs just for one flu season–so I would say that we don’t use lizard eggs because the government probably doesn’t have a million lizards all raised and ready to lay lizard eggs. Same for ostrich eggs which are really quite large so that means there are less of them (fun fact: ostriches breeding season is only for two months of the year in June and July, while chickens lay eggs throughout the year–a farm chicken can lay up to 350 eggs per year!) because they take longer to get laid. Technically though, it would be possible to produce vaccines in lizard or ostrich eggs, as long as there’s the embryo or cells for the virus to start replicating on. Anyway thanks for your question and I hope that answers it Kalayla! eggs are cool

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