I got the COVID 19 vaccine first in mid December and then another dose in the beginning of January. I go over some of the side effects that I had from the vaccine. I also address some of the concerns some individuals have expressed to me about the vaccine.
I know some vegans may be hesitant to get the vaccine because of the testing on animals that is required before human clinical trials are done. I encourage vegans to consider getting the vaccine. For me it was a no-brainer, as I work in the emergency room, and I am at high risk for getting COVID as well as spreading it to others. Here is an opinion piece from my friend Carol Janezic, who decided she is getting the vaccine, even though she is vegan.
Why I’m Getting the Vaccine
by Carol Janezic
Full disclosure: I’m vegan, and in less than two weeks I’ll be 63, so am not going to mess around with my health. That means, besides all the other things I do to care for myself, I plan to get a COVID19 vaccine as soon as it’s available to me. But I wanted to know more – are there any animal products in them? Were animals used in testing?
The three vaccines authorized in the U.S., Pfizer, Moderna, and Johnson & Johnson, contain cholesterol. What?! How can that be?
It turns out the suppliers used plant-based cholesterol, made by taking plant sterols and synthetically modifying them into cholesterol. None of the three vaccines contain animal products. Good to know.
But wait, what about animal testing? We already know that was done. I am in no way defending animal testing, but am aware that regulations require animal testing before vaccines and medicines can be approved.
Did you know, that if you ever use medicines, antibiotics, or have surgery, you are using products and procedures that have been tested on animals. You won’t be able to avoid it. The best thing for a vegan (and everyone) to do is to stay healthy.
The nitty-gritty: I learned that Pfizer tested two vaccine strains, each of which used 53 animals: 32 mice and 21 rhesus macaque monkeys, for a total of 106 animals used in testing. The exact number of animals used in testing by Moderna and J&J is not clear, but as similar protocols were used, the numbers are probably quite similar. For each animal tested, many many thousands of lives will be saved.
If people do not take the vaccine, get sick and are hospitalized, they will be treated with a tremendous amount of medicine which has all been tested on animals. Far more testing than was done for these vaccines. Those same people may also infect other people, starting a chain of more infection throughout the community and beyond, more sickness, more hospitalizations, more medicines and procedures tested on animals being used. And after all of that, more deaths.
It’s important to remember, the animal testing used in making the vaccines is not creating a continuous need. Once the testing is complete, the manufacturers do not go back and continue testing animals to learn the same thing over and over.
To put this in perspective, many vegans insist on eating organic produce. Products used in organic farming are responsible for the death of countless animals on a continuous basis (exception: independent veganic farms – but there are not enough of them to feed more than small numbers of people.)
Common organic farming practices use by-products of the animal farming industry for nitrogen-based fertilizer, including the ongoing use of ground up baby male chickens [info from: The Nitrogen Footprint of Organic Food in the United States.] Yes, you heard that right. That bag of Organic Corn comes on the back of ground up baby chickens.
Eating organic produce is far more damaging to animals, something to be considered if animal testing is your reason for avoiding vaccines.
There is no way for anyone to completely avoid animal products in this world. Everyday items everywhere, are made with animal products. The shellac on your lovely wood furniture is made with secretions from the Lac Beetle. Some beers, perfumes, plastic bags, condoms, nail polish, crayons, red candy, and even some orange juices contain animal products.
I hope you have your seatbelt on, because smart phones are made with animal products.
Nearly all mobile phones, computer screens, and televisions with LCD displays contain cholesterol taken from animals. (an exception: on 09 March 2020, a company called “Oppo” advertised that their X2 Pro model smartphone was 100% vegan.)
When I was 7 years old, I announced I was going to be vegetarian when I grew up. At 17, in September 1975, I became a lacto-ovo vegetarian, the only one in my family, at a time when it was considered distinctly weird. Over the years I used less lacto and less ovo, until Spring 2009, when I decided to take the leap and become full-on vegan. That doesn’t mean I’m perfect. There was that time my sister-in-law lied and told me her hummus was completely vegan – it wasn’t. And oh yeah, I am going to get the vaccine.
So many people want to know what kind of vegan, ethical vegan or health vegan? To me, it’s a moot point, but if you must know, I do it for animals, I do it for the environment, I do it for myself – for my health, and for my own personal spiritual reasons. It’s always been this way. I do it. And there’s no reason for me to separate these things out. They all work together. And still, or maybe because of this, I do plan to get the COVID19 vaccine.
Some of what I learned came from an hour-and-a-half long video on Youtube, a roundtable discussion by eight vegan physicians, recorded in December 2020 through a Zoom meeting.