Published 03:06 IST, October 2nd 2020

Global COVID-19 vaccine production could kill half a million sharks: Study

Amid the global health crisis, Conservationists have cautioned that the mass production of COVID-19 vaccine could lead to the killing of half a million sharks.

Science News
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As the world is growing more desperate for an effective COVID-19 vaccine, conservationists have cautioned that the mass production of the drug could lead to the killing of half a million sharks. A natural organic compound sourced primarily from shark liver, Squalene, which is most commonly used by companies to produce cosmetics and sunscreens, is also being used to manufacture COVID-19 vaccine candidates while global infections have surpassed 34.1 million.

According to research by US non-profit organisation Shark Allies, the substance plays an essential role in the development of the COVID-19 vaccine as it acts as an “adjuvant”. Thus, squalene is a pharmacological agent that increases the efficacy of some medicines by boosting the immune response in the receivers.

It makes the vaccines stronger but threatens a major chunk of the shark population. On the brighter side, Shark Allies <>said that they have found out many of the COVID-19 vaccine candidates in the testing phase do not use an adjuvant. And if they do, it is other than squalene. As per the World Health Organisation (WHO) data, there are currently at least 34 COVID-19 vaccines in clinical evaluation and 142 in preclinical evaluation. Out of these vaccines, 17 use adjuvants with five of those adjuvants being shark squalene-based.

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How many sharks could be killed?

Two of the adjuvants, MF59 and AS03, typically contain 9.75 milligrams and 10.68 milligrams of squalene per dose respectively. The US non-profit organisation has put together the number of sharks that would be killed in providing two doses of COVID-19 vaccines to the entire population.

While every year 2.7-3 million sharks are killed to produce one tonne of squalene, the number could drastically spike if it is used in the COVID-19 vaccines. For instance, to mass-produce two doses for approximately 7.5 billion people in the world, over 489,700 sharks will be dead. However, there are more sustainable alternative sources of squalene including plants, fungi, and bacteria.