The first U.S. vaccine meant to address the global decline in honeybees got approval from the Department of Agriculture, in a move that could help one of the planet’s most important pollinators. The vaccine targets the bacteria blamed for decimating honeybee populations worldwide and could be available later this year.
Biotech company Dalan Animal Health, based in Athens, Ga., gained approval for its prophylactic vaccine to protect honeybees from American foulbrood disease — an aggressive bacterium that can spread quickly from hive to hive, the company announced on Jan. 4. Honeybees play an essential part in about one-third of the fruit and produce Americans eat. Populations have dramatically declined in recent years due to the increasing pressures of climate change, habitat destruction, pesticide use and disease.
The vaccine contains dead Paenibacillus larvae, the bacteria that causes the illness. The approval is an exciting step forward for beekeepers, said California State Beekeepers Association board member Trevor Tauzer, and paves the way for more vaccines aimed at controlling harmful viruses and pests. “If we can prevent an infection in our hives, we can avoid costly treatments and focus our energy on other important elements of keeping our bees health,” Tauzer said in a statement.
Editor’s Note: We need more skilled people working with honeybees in the natural environment like Erika Thompson. Erika runs the Texas Beeworks as a skilled honey bee keeper who puts hives before the honey. According to Erika, the bees are suffering decline in population not from illnesses such as Paenibacillus, but from the stresses of mono agriculture, lack of food, poisons from herbicides and pesticides and much more. — mmd