A New Method for the Production of Potent Inactivated Vaccines with Ultraviolet Irradiation

Abstract

Summary and Conclusions: Several separate lots of completely inactivated poliomyelitis vaccine (Lansing strain) were prepared by means of a new technic of ultraviolet irradiation. The virus was consistently inactivated in less than one second exposure to the source of irradiation. The irradiated poliomyelitis vaccines were proven to be completely inactivated by critical safety tests in mice and monkeys. Mice immunized with two and especially three doses of the irradiated poliomyelitis vaccine developed significant resistance to intracerebral inoculation, and neutralizing antibodies in two to three weeks. The irradiated poliomyelitis vaccine exhibited no significant loss of potency after four and a half months storage at 3 C. On the basis of these results, further and more extensive studies in animals and possibly in man are warranted.