World’s first vaccine for honey bees gets US government approval

Vaccine is incorporated into the royal jelly by worker bees who feed it to the queen bee

A beekeeper installs a new beehive on an urban rooftop garden in Islington (Getty)

The world’s first vaccine for honey bees has been given a conditional licence for use by the US Department of Agriculture to protect the insects from a deadly bacterial disease.

Honey bees are a critical component of the world’s food supply, and are responsible for nearly a third of global production, as several crops rely on insect pollination for high yields.

In the US alone, some estimates suggest honey bees are responsible for the annual pollination of at least $17bn (£14bn) worth of crops.