Uzbekistan develops edible tomato COVID-19 vaccine

Uzbek scientists have created an edible COVID-19 vaccine synthesized from the common tomato called TOMAVAC, according to the Frontiers research journal website.

According to the journal, the scientists inserted a fragment of the gene encoding the S1 antigenic protein of the coronavirus into special vectors and spliced it into the genome of tomato cells.

A tomato plant that reproduces the S1 antigenic protein was obtained from these cells. As a result, tomato fruits derived from these plants were shown to synthesize a stable S1 antigenic protein and were selected as the new TOMAVAC vaccine.

The edible vaccine provides two-level protection against COVID-19.