The vaccines industry has not changed appreciably in decades regarding technology, and has struggled to remain viable, with large companies withdrawing from production. Meanwhile, there has been no let-up in outbreaks of viral disease, at a time when the biopharmaceuticals industry is discussing downsizing. The distributed manufacturing model aligns well with this, and the advent of synthetic biology promises much in terms of vaccine design. Biofoundries separate design from manufacturing, a hallmark of modern engineering. Once designed in a biofoundry, digital code can be transferred to a small-scale manufacturing facility close to the point of care, rather than physically transferring cold-chain-dependent vaccine. Thus, biofoundries and distributed manufacturing have the potential to open up a new era of biomanufacturing, one based on digital biology and information systems. This seems a better model for tackling future outbreaks and pandemics.

几十年来，疫苗行业在技术方面没有发生明显变化，并且一直在努力保持生存能力，大公司纷纷退出生产。与此同时，在生物制药行业正在讨论裁员之际，病毒性疾病的爆发并没有减弱。分布式制造模型与此非常吻合，合成生物学的出现在疫苗设计方面大有可为。生物铸造厂将设计与制造分开，这是现代工程的一个标志。一旦在生物铸造厂设计完成，数字代码就可以转移到靠近护理点的小型制造设施，而不是实际转移依赖冷链的疫苗。因此，生物铸造厂和分布式制造有可能开辟生物制造的新时代，一种基于数字生物学和信息系统。这似乎是应对未来爆发和流行病的更好模式。