Scientists Are Attempting to Grow Covid 

Vaccine-Filled Spinach, Lettuce, Edible 

Plants To Replace Covid Injections

November, 2021

Millions of people who have refused to get an experimental mRNA vaccine may soon be forced to consume the gene therapy in their food.

Researchers at the University of California were awarded a $500,000 grant from the National Science Foundation developing technology that infuses experimental mRNA Covid-19 vaccines into spinach, lettuce and other edible plants.

The researchers are tasked with demonstrating the genetically modified plants can produce enough mRNA to replace Covid jabs and infuse the plants with the right dosage required to eat to replace vaccines.

Experimental mRNA vaccines will be edible, Juan Pablo Giraldo, an associate professor in UCR’s Department of Botany and Plant Sciences who is leading the research explained in a press release published by the university on Sept. 16.

“Ideally, a single plant would produce enough mRNA to vaccinate a single person,” Giraldo said. “We are testing this approach with spinach and lettuce and have long-term goals of people growing it in their own gardens,”

“One of the reasons I started working in nanotechnology was so I could apply it to plants and create new technology solutions. Not just for food, but for high-value products as well, like pharmaceuticals,” he said.