This is why blood from newborn cattle is being used to develop Indian Covid vaccine
Blood serum from newborn cattle is a key ingredient in biological research, such as the development of vaccines, and is widely available for import.
MOHANA BASU16 September, 2020
New Delhi: In a research paper recently released by the Indian Council of Medical Research and Bharat Biotech about Covaxin, the Covid-19 vaccine they are developing, scientists have mentioned that one of the ingredients used is blood serum from newborn cattle.
The Covid vaccine is not the first to use this ingredient; blood serum from newborn cattle is a vital part of biological research, and is usually imported from other countries.
And though there are some artificial replacements now available, the wide availability of imported cattle serum products makes it a key part of the Covid vaccine development process. ThePrint explains how.
Also read: Phase-I trials of 2 Indian Covid candidate vaccines show excellent safety, says MoS Choubey
The science behind the use of newborn cattle blood
Covaxin falls in the category of inactivated vaccines, in which the pathogen is deactivated so that it can no longer cause infection. However, parts of the virus can still be identified by the body’s immune system, triggering a reaction.
To produce the vaccine, vero CCL-81 cells — a line of cells from the kidney of a normal adult African green monkey — are grown in the lab. These cells are then exposed to the SARS-CoV-2 virus in bioreactors under controlled conditions. The virus is then harvested after about 36 hours and inactivated.
The inactivated virus is mixed with adjuvants — substances known to enhance immune response. In the case of Covaxin, the adjuvants used are alum and a molecule known as imidazoquinoline, which helps the body better recognise RNA from viruses.
To grow cells in the lab, scientists need to provide conditions that allow cells to divide and turn into specific cell types required for their experiments.
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