Perhaps it was only a matter of time before vaccinology hit the honeybee world, but regardless, the technology is now available for honeybees, on the pretext of saving them from American foulbrood disease.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture granted conditional approval for a biotech insect vaccine containing dead Paenibacillus larvae, the bacteria that causes the illness. Unlike a vaccine that requires individual inoculation, this one is simply mixed with the queen food the worker bees eat.
It then becomes part of the royal jelly the workers feed the queen, and if all goes as intended, newborn bees will come into the world with the immunity.
SOURCE:
Engadget January 8, 2023