During the COVID-19 pandemic, pharmaceutical companies manufactured mRNA COVID-19 shots in massive quantities. While many of the shots were distributed and administered, a large number went unused, eventually expiring and being discarded. To avoid this type wastage in the future, researchers at the Center for Physical Sciences and Technology (FTMC) in Lithuania are proposing a potential alternative.1
FTMC scientists have come up with a plan to give expired vaccines a second life by exploring ways to repurpose them. As part of an ongoing project, they are investigating whether expired vaccines could be repurposed for the development of biosensors, offering a more sustainable use for surplus doses.
Chemist Vincentas Mindaugas Mačiulis, PhD, the lead author of the study published in Talanta, said:
We focused our attention on the vaccines with virus-like particles (VLP). VLPs are protein structures that resemble real viruses but do not contain their genetic material (DNA or RNA). Therefore, they cannot cause infection, but the immune system recognizes them as a threat and begins to produce antibodies, thus forming immunity.2
Research on Repurposing Expired Vaccines Progressing
Aurelija Žvirblienė, PhD, professor at the Life Sciences Center of Vilnius University in Lithuania, donated expired COVID-19 VLP shots to the FTMC team. These shots contain spike proteins, which play a key role in immune recognition, along with other components such as stabilizers and adjuvants. Dr. Mačiulis explained that adjuvants are molecules that stimulate the immune response so that the body recognizes the danger and begins to protect itself.3
To ensure the proteins worked effectively in their tests, Asta Lučiūnaitė, PhD, another researcher on the study, purified the shots to isolate “clean, concentrated” spike proteins.
The researchers then attached the purified spike proteins to tiny gold surfaces to create special sensors called biosensors. These biosensors can detect antibodies in blood samples. The team tested the sensors using blood with different amounts of antibodies and compared their performance to other sensors that used spike proteins from the original SARS-CoV-2 virus and the Omicron variant. They observed how the different spike proteins connected with the antibodies to see if the sensors could tell if a person’s immune system recognized the coronavirus.4
Mačiulis noted that the outcome of the experiment was encouraging. He stated:
As we described in the paper, these first experiments were very successful. In this way, biosensors recognized antibodies using spike proteins obtained from outdated vaccines and provided reliable results. Compared to commercial ‘fresh’ proteins, this interaction is not yet as accurate, but this is only the beginning. The overall result is encouraging—at this stage, the use of old vaccines is proving worthwhile.5
The researchers highlighted that their method could help both the environment and reduce costs. Mačiulis explained that by finding a new use for expired vaccines, fewer doses would go to waste, making vaccine production more sustainable. He added that if their approach can be developed into working biosensor technology, it could become a much more affordable way to test for antibodies since expired vaccines are easier and cheaper for labs to get than specially made materials.6
Looking ahead, the FTMC team plans to refine the spike protein extraction process to improve biosensor sensitivity and hopes to apply this method to other vaccines made with similar technologies, such as those for human papillomavirus (HPV) and hepatitis B. Mačiulis said:
It is likely that the method would work in a very similar way, but we would need to make sure that it is possible to obtain the same results. We also plan to improve the process of extracting spike proteins from old vaccines to strengthen their interaction with antibodies.7
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4 Responses
Of course, let’s repurpose the death shot 🤦🏼♀️
So rather than get a better handle on supply vs demand, they’ll continue to overproduce and then spend even more on finding innovative ways to utilize their production surplus.
Or, people could just order them ahead of time and actually wait for their vaccines, and they could plan better so there would never be a surplus in the first place. Then less taxpayer and government subsidy dollars would be spent in these sectors.
No. Not when taxpayer dollars are involved. It’s maximum production and we don’t care if you take them or not. We’ll find a way to make use of every available tax dollar, find novel ways to utilize a surplus supply on the back end. There will be absolutely no justification for spending fewer tax dollars with our company.
See, now they’re helping the environment. You know what may be better for ‘the environment’? Not producing millions of disposable vials and everything that goes alongside that, in the first place.
I wonder if this is just another way to get the POISONED TROJAN HORSE BIOWEAPON shots killing people…
Bingo!