More than public health rides on COVID-19 vaccine’s success
More than public health depends on the outcomes of COVID-19 vaccinations. While political and economic reverberations of the pandemic will rattle the globe for decades to come, how successfully humanity comes out of this pandemic will affect not just health of populations and economies.
It is not an exaggeration to say that the success (or failure) of vaccination campaigns will affect the future of biotechnology, nanotechnology, vaccines and robotics.
Biotechnology. 2021 could be the year of opportunities to miss for agricultural biotechnology. Stars for this have been aligning since the 2020 Nobel Prize was awarded to the scientists who developed genome editing using CRISPR-Cas9. A decision not to impose significant regulatory burden on gene-edited crops by the governments of the largest economies of the Western Hemisphere recognized opportunities.
A growing global awareness of the role biotechnology played in the development of successful SARS-CoV2 mRNA vaccines will help biotechnology conquer new territory — gaining regulatory approval in the EU, China and key African economies and in credibly addressing challenges that currently set back agricultural production.
While political and economic reverberations of the pandemic will rattle the globe for decades to come, how successfully humanity comes out of this pandemic will affect not just health of populations and economies.
Nanotechnology. The two COVID-19 vaccines approved in the U.S. use lipid nanoparticles to deliver mRNA. Their success will highlight new opportunities for nanotechnology, will positively impact perceptions and alleviate some of consumers’ concerns about safety. Nanoparticles are already widely used in food coloring and as flavor carriers, as nanofertilizers and nanopesticides.
New applications promise to develop edible coatings and antioxidant nanoparticles for fruits and vegetables that can delay food spoilage. Nanotechnology is likely to gain broader acceptance in food safety: coatings that prevent biofouling, nanobubbles of ozone and other gases in water solutions can be used to clean surfaces, including produce surfaces.
As we urge governments to spare no resources to efficiently vaccinate essential workers in health care and food industry, as well as the general public, it is critical to realize that much more than public health are at stake.
Vaccines in general. A successful worldwide roll-out of the SARS-CoV2 vaccination will pave the way for a broader implementation of vaccines. There exists only a narrow window of opportunity for the development and broad use of vaccination to control human diseases before vaccine critics regain their voice in the global media ecosystem.
Nevertheless, there should be opportunities to capitalize on the vaccine technology in agriculture. Pathogens capable of “jumping” from livestock to people, such as influenza A viruses (swine flu H1N1, avian flu viruses), as well as viruses that cause multi-million dollar loses in the animal agriculture are likely candidates. A renewed interest in improving vaccines for management of pathogenic E. coli in cattle and salmonella in poultry can also be anticipated.
Robotics. With variable success over the past decades, major ag producing nations attempted to put in place policies to secure a predictable labor force. Just how susceptible global essential workforce is to pandemics became painfully clear over the past 10 months. A massive investment in robotics R&D is much needed to hedge against future disruptions.
As we urge governments to spare no resources to efficiently vaccinate essential workers in health care and the food industry, as well as the general public, it is critical to realize that much more than public health is at stake.
Max Teplitski is chief science officer for the Produce Marketing Association.
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