The First Honeybee Vaccine

The first bee vaccine may be the answer to beekeeper concerns over honeybee health and provide a brighter future for our essential pollinators. The vaccine targets American foulbrood, a bacterial disease that aggressively attacks beehives and can kill entire hives, spreading rapidly throughout regions and infecting and killing countless bees. The vaccine is designed to prevent bacteria spores from contaminating the guts of bees, as the disease is highly contagious. This is why the vaccine is a critical step in preventing infections from American foulbrood (AFB).

Honeybees At Risk

If American foulbrood infects bees, the infection is sealed in the cells with larvae, and the result is bees dissolving into a gooey substance that dries to release more spores. The spreading behavior leads to the devastation of bee apiaries everywhere, and beekeepers have been doing everything they can to prevent AFB and treat it early and often. However, the rapid spreading is difficult to mitigate once a hive is infected. AFB outbreaks can occur without a clear cause, which is what makes it such a terrifying threat to bees. Sadly, most beekeepers who experience infestations are forced to burn the hives, bees, and equipment, which is devastating on several levels. The bee vaccine is a way to prevent the disease from overtaking hives and spreading, which is invaluable!

Vaccinating Bees

When people hear the word "vaccination," they think of human shots, such as the controversial COVID-19 vaccination. It would be impossible to inject every bee with the vaccine, so how do the bees get the vaccine? The good news for bees is that if their queen is vaccinated, the hive is potentially protected. The vaccine is not man-made from chemicals; it is just dead AFB bacteria, and instead of being injected into the queens, it is fed to them.

The professionals who breed queens feed the vaccination to the queen in a sugary candy form. To administer the vaccination, the queen and a few worker bees are put in a sealed and breathable space with the vaccine candy. The worker bees eat the candy, and it is transferred to the royal jelly that they feed the queen, so that is how she gets it. The vaccinated queen will transfer the vaccination to her ovaries, which means her eggs are protected with the vaccine. As bees emerge from their cells, they are already protected against the infection – it is truly incredible!

Is the AFB Vaccination Sustainable?

The organic way this vaccine has been created means it is sustainable. It is simply dead AFB, with no chemicals added, so it can keep honeybees healthy, and beekeepers are celebrating this new finding! Beekeepers who have struggled season after season to treat AFB with antibiotics have seen their colonies decline and suffer, but this vaccine offers a new and safe way to treat the infection.

Is Bee Vaccination Necessary?

There is always a group that believes that any human intervention in beekeeping is wrong. However, the nature of the vaccination and its resounding success led many to become believers in this approach to protecting hives. AFB affects close to 50% of honeybee hives, which means without treatment, hives are always at risk of being devastated. The vaccination is easy to administer and highly effective. Beekeepers who do not wish to vaccinate their bees can purchase vaccinated queens and introduce them to their hives.

Overall, this vaccination is going to save tens of thousands, if not millions, of honeybees. Beekeepers finally have the tools to use that can prevent infections and the collapse of colonies due to AFB.