A study published in BMJ Nutrition, Prevention and Health suggests that a predominantly plant-based or vegetarian diet is linked to 39 lower odds of COVID-19 infection. The research, which was conducted by Merino et al., found that people who reported eating the most fruits, vegetables, and legumes had a 9 lower risk of getting COVID and a 41 lower risk of developing severe COVID during the study period.
The study also found that health professionals who reported following diets that are vegetarian, vegan, or pescatarian (those that exclude meat but include fish) had a lower risk. This suggests that plant-based and mainly vegetarian diets may be protective against COVID-19 infection. A diet high in vegetables, legumes, nuts, and low in dairy and meat may be protective.
Mental researchers have advocated vegetarian diets to help protect against COVID-19 after their study found a plant-based diet gave them a lower risk of contracting the virus. A predominantly plant-based or vegetarian diet is also linked to 39 lower odds of being infected with COVID-19, according to researchers in Brazil.
In conclusion, a predominantly plant-based or vegetarian diet is linked to a lower risk of COVID-19 infection and severe disease after infection. This suggests that a plant-based diet may be a protective strategy against the virus.
📹 VIDEO: Fact or Fiction – Vegetarians can’t catch coronavirus
Caitlin Francis looks into a rumor that suggests vegetarians can’t catch COVID-19.
📹 Yes, The COVID-19 Vaccine Is Vegan
Support an Effective Animal Charity* https://animalcharityevaluators.org/ Yuck …
You’ve said that if someone is struggling to give up animal products, try to give up everything possible, but if something is holding you back it’s okay to hold onto some things while transitioning. It’s because of you that I went vegetarian last January first, and I’ve given up everything but cheese. I plan on transitioning to fully vegan and letting go of cheese this year. Reducitarianism and vegetarianism are great stepping stones.
This article makes no sense. Vaccine is not vegan because it was tested on animals. Don’t try to justify yourself because you are in favour of vaccination. Just say you are a vegan that goes off-track for some exceptions. But don’t make a war to the vocabulary because otherwise you would look incoherent.
The Nuremberg Code is a set of research ethics principles for human experimentation and has 10 points, one of which requires animal experimentation prior to human trials: “The experiment should be so designed and based on the results of animal experimentation and a knowledge of the natural history of the disease or other problem under study that the anticipated results will justify the performance of the experiment.”
Hasn’t the theory that this emerged from a wet market been discredited at this point? Regardless of whether you eat meat or don’t, it seems like there are more efficacious ways of preventing future global pandemics of this sort, e.g. exposing the culpability of the PRC for the mass death and economic carnage which has taken place over the past year, and reducing the amount of power it exercises through global health and epidemiological bodies.
2:40 you have all the right to think like that, but that doesnt mean that is what really happens… So you are saying that only when your life is at risk you are ok with Animal explotation??? The fact that you and your couple are vegan doesnt make you good people and also doesnt make your kids vegan just like that….
people like him are the reason that I stray away from Veganism. In this day & age there is no reason that we can’t find an alternative to animal testing. they can grow skin & organs in petri dishes, use those. I appreciate you making articles like this, I wish more people would learn about SCIENCE, & stop being so fucking emotional.
I am completely against animal testing, but I also know that not getting the vaccine might lead to me or those I come into contact with being hospitalised, leading to more drugs being used (which are also tested on animals/use animal products). We also live in a crappy non-vegan world so until vaccines can be made without animal cruelty, I don’t see any other option 😕
I’m someone who is doing PhD in molecular medicine. I can guarantee, it is not fun to use animals. And even when we’re doing in vitro or studying human samples, we need animal products. Cell culture media contains often animal serum, and in immunohistochemistry it is absolutely necessary to use antibodies that are produced in different animal species than the tissue of interest (human) is. My moral justification for all this is, that it is kind of “life or death” situation. If my loved one would suffer from Huntington, ALS, Marfan syndrome or something, I would beg scientists to use all the animals they want to find cure. Well, I’m that scientist now. I try to do my best outside my work, e.g. eating plant based (I guess I’m not allowed to call myself vegan..), living eco friendly, offsetting my carbon footprint and so on. Of course this is shitty situation and I hope one day we have efficient alternatives.
When it comes to medical stuff, I don’t care if it’s vegan. If I am prescribed something I take it, vegan or not. My medications were obviously tested on animals. After being diagnosed with a vitamin D deficiency, I was given prescription D. It was probably not vegan. But I took it anyway. After I finished the presentation I switched to the Doctor’s Best vegan D3. I always vax. I plan on getting the covid vaccine ad soon as I can. I have asthma and covid would be very bad for me.
My friend does monkey research and she loves those monkeys more than anything in the world. She goes in on the weekends to give them treats and even makes them special treats for their birthdays. When one monkey got an infection she cried for days worried that the monkey might die. It is so much different than they make it seem.
I had a professor once who did research with rats and she always talked about how much she respected her animals that give their lives for scientific research and how she would give them I think cereal as treats whenever she could and she just constantly talked about her love and respect for her animals
Thank you. This was a really interesting topic to me. I’m a veterinarian and I’m vegan. I have to use vaccinations and medications that were tested on animals in order to prevent and treat the suffering of my animal patients. One of my “offsets” is to support efforts to promote other, better, forms of testing that do not harm animals in the future. As vegans who love animals, we do the very best we can in this messed up world. ❤️
I love your articles and must admit I have had a small Unnatural Vegan binge the past few days. You are the most down-to-earth vegan on YouTube (that I’ve come across at least)! Being vegan isn’t about avoiding animal products at all costs, it is about avoiding them when possible. When it comes to vaccines or medications, it may not be possible. Thanks for your website and all the work you put into it.
Hi, I’m a biochemist studying bioinformatics and preparing for a phd based on developing a tool that will reduce the necessity of animal testing. During my times in the lab I’ve met many researcher that treat the animals as object; but it is even worst in the testing lab. The researchers establish a method and then the technicians apply it to multiple animals. Those are the animals worst treated ever. 2 years ago dogs and cat were found living in their own blood and vomit. Monkeys were attached by legs, arms and head; not even in a cage. So yes, I’m going to get vaccinated; but I think we should talk a lot more about it. There are many alternative methods that aren’t approve due to a conflict of interest; or even worst, they are approved but research groups want to maintain the old fashioned animal testing that they know instead of learning something new (I’ve seen this a lot)
Some vegans should remember that humans are living beings, too! Also it’s a different thing to refuse using vaccines or any kind of drugs for personal ethical reasons than to actively try to stop vaccine developing because supposedly the suffering of the test bunnies would be the same as the suffering of people on a global level.
I mean, COVID-19 vaccinations is fast tracked, which means it in a way skipped animal testing, but that just means they didn’t wait for the results from trail on animals to start first phase of clinical trails, not that they weren’t preformed. Or that there are no separate phases of trails of animals, but put in the same experiment time line.
A lot of scientists ARE animal lovers. I work in science and know people who work with animal testing. They care so much about their research animals, going as far as they can to give them good environments. I’ve heard researchers admit to crying over their animals’ passing. Overall, scientists study things because they want to improve them, including things such as drug research. People who care this much aren’t evil villains, they just consider situations ethically differently than some vegans might.
Well, the vaccine thing is slippery. Several years ago I travelled to Africa for professional reasons. The country requires to be vaccinated for yellow fever before entering. My country of origin also recommends to get a shot for tetanus, diphtheria and polio. I decided to take both, including the not obligatory one. Am I no longer vegan?
“As far as is possible and practicable” means just that. If he wants to live, he has to eat, and does he have any idea how much damage and harm farming does? In my country (Denmark) 61% of the entire landmass is farmed, which wreaks havoc with the local environment. This is the price of society, and we need to eat if we want to live. I see medications in the same way – medications save lives just like eating saves lives. When a drug has been developed the animal testing stops for that drug, and then it just keeps on saving lives. It seems like he makes animal lives more important than human lives, because a covid vaccine will save more lives than it will have taken. I take insulin, which has obviously been tested on animals, but insulin, on the other hand, has literally saved millions of lives. There are at least 10 million type 1 diabetics currently alive in the world, all of which need insulin to survive more than a few days. Nowhere close to that amount of lives have been taken in the development of insulin. Smallpox killed 500 million people (!!) in the last 100 years in its existence. Literally millions of people died each year from it, but no, we’re not going to vaccinate because they experimented on animals… Like, what?!
I think also the empathic nature of vaccines needs to be taken into consideration. You don’t get vaccinations only to protect yourself, but also to protect the people around you and your community, since its necessary that a mininum of humans is vaccinated in order to achieve protection. So you are empathic towards animals but not towards other human beings? It’s extremely selfish to decide only for yourself as if it were an individual decision.
I wonder if the people who write these articles realize that high profile animal research like this will have multiple lab animal veterinarians on staff to make sure protocols are being properly followed to treat the test animals as humanely as possible, helping properly diagnose them, and humanely euthanizing them when necessary.
I worked in a lab working on bilateral brain disease. I had to euthanize songbirds. It was the worse job I have ever had to do and I cried about it everyday. I quit about 1 week in. The guy in charge told me that people quitting happens all the times and that killing animals sucks, but they have to do what they have to do unfortunately to prevent human suffering.
We advocate for the change that isn’t here yet. For me, the biggest downfall is not trusting the process. I am one of MANY vegans that did not turn overnight. Maybe that’s why I still am? It wasn’t a “knee-jerk” reaction, but took time for me to explore my options because, in the eyes of true equality, my life matters too! I was a flex (meat once a week), then a vegetarian (dairy was ok), and now a vegan of 9 years. The “all or nothing” argument is bad in every situation – be it a relationship, work-life, diet, etc. Decisions that affect your wellbeing/life deserve thought into the pros and cons of your choice. This conversation reminds me of the comment you made in another article about early activists against slavery in this country. In the early times, they didn’t have every ideal choice – like clothing was still linked to slave labor, but do you expect those activists to be nude? How does that help the cause??? When there is a choice, we chose the most ideal.
I completely agree with you on this. I take a medication that’s unfortunately not strictly vegan as it contains gelatine. As this is a medical necessity for me I don’t even think about it, I need to take it. That’s it. Then on the other hand when it comes to vitamins, where I do have a choice, I pick the vegan version. So thank you for speaking up about this!
What are they suggesting (demanding actually), for an alternative? As far as I know (and I’m only a marine ecologists, so I’m no expert), the methods of testing without animals are not common and will be very expensive for a while after they become more common. Are they suggesting no one gets vaccinated? It’s just so confusing
Though I haven’t much direct contact with animal work myself, I know a lot of people who do, for biomedical research. No one loves it, and every one of the ones I know wishes it weren’t needed and tries to do their work while minimizing the suffering of the animals. Many animal researchers are themselves vegetarians or vegans. It may be a comforting narrative to see such researchers as cartoonish villains so you can neatly place people into boxes of “good” and “evil”, but it ignores the reality. It’s also a really weird place to put your focus, since going by numbers biomedical research animals are a vanishingly small proportion of the animals used by humans. Denmark is killing 17 MILLLION mink due to Covid, animals that were used for fir, not lifesaving medications. 800,000 cows are slaughtered a DAY in the world. Focus should be on that, and not the handful of animals being reluctantly used to save human lives under very strict conditions.
To be honest, no researcher enjoys hurting the animals…also, there are a lot of regulatios for the treatment of animals and how to reduce suffering to the minimum while also being able to benefit from the research. This semestr I had a course about ‘the treatment of experimental animals and how to care for these animals’ and the lecturer sounded very sad and dishartened when he was talking about some research, when you work for monhts with these animals and you see them suffer, it becomes personal. So just for the people who maybe don’t know how it is on the other side, from the perspective od the scientists, nobody likes it, everybody is trying to do their best not to harm more than is absolutely necessary. 🥼
Swayze, would you be interested in researching and covering the Low Nickel Diet and veganism? I have to watch my nickel intake as I am allergic to nickel (yes, food contains nickel). With a nickel allergy and celiac disease, I cannot currently maintain a vegan diet (I tried for two years). I have heard of some other nickel-allergic people trying to maintain a vegan diet though it is tough. It would be interesting (at least for me) to see Low Nickel Diets discussed within the vegan circle. P.s. Anyone reading this, please for the love of God don’t worry about your nickel consumption unless you suspect you have a problem with nickel and speak to a doctor about it. ✌️Low nickel diets are not a fad and can lead to nutritional deficiencies when done improperly.
I am a science PhD candidate (vegetarian). I chose to work with chick embryos to avoid working with live animals as a personal choice. I also buy most household/beauty products from companies that do not test on animals. However I have briefly worked with mice in the past and from my experience there are VERY strict guidlines for animal care on every level. I know many people who do feel sensitive about working with live animals but understand that for their research it is necessary. In many cases the alternatives are not good enough substitutions, but I think that research about organoids/chips is very important and in the future could be used to replace SOME animal research.
I personally know a lot of scientist working in medical research labs on animals here in Germany. I don’t know anyone who enjoys killing, or how they call it ‘sacrificing’, animals. Sometimes some vegans fall into behaviors that lacks all reasoning. The behave like fundamentalist, not questioning their beliefs but stubbornly holding onto simple doctrines they have fostered in their brains for ages. But it is nice to see that there are still people who stand up against them. Unfortunately, you find these kinds of people everywhere right now.
Hey just want to share that there is a plant based vaccine being developed, it is of course still tested on animals but it at least is a step in a better direction. The company developing it is called Midicago if anyone wants to look into this. I really hope it’s approved and an option that could be available.
I really get your point but I need to say that I have a little different opinion about this. I think there are vaccines that are really important to us but I myself wouldn’t get the Covid vaccine. It was developed in a very very short time and I think that it is not very safe in long term harm personally..
My daughter is a frontline healthcare worker. I will see what her opinion is once she and all her hospital cohorts get the vaccine. She will truthfully tell us, her parents, whether it is in our best interest healthwise. I am not afraid to get the vaccine or COVID, but my husband has health issues. We will wait a while but I will more than likely get the vaccine. I want to lower the risk of my husband getting infected from me. A grandkid with a cold or flu ? Hubs gets sick every time and I do not. People have varying circumstances. The biggest issue for us is should children get vaccinated ? Otherwise they could get it, even very mildly and then infect Gramps who gets hospitalized or worse. The whole situation is damned if you do or don’t. I think that is why some people are on the fence.
I think what Chas is saying is that making an exception for a vaccine developed by hurting animals is a slippery slope to making other exceptions to participating in things that hurt animals, it’s this kind of nuanced hot take that keeps the vegan community thriving. Like I’m gonna get the shot and end up at the drive through ordering a Big Mac. I like this website but it is tough to tune in every week for yet another installment of “reasons people think vegans are just crazy animal zealots”.
I work in a research laboratory in which a small amount of animal testing it carried out. Before coming into academia, as a vegan I used to believe that people that do animal testing are evil. I can tell you that is simply not the case. We don’t want to be doing this but I can promise you as long as we need to learn more about science, especially to prevent future human and/or animal suffering, and there is no alternative, animal testing will continue. There are many scientists, including myself, out there exploring ways in which we can stop testing on animals. We are doing the best we can. Thanks for this article.
I’ve been mocked by a colleague that it’s stupid for me to want mandatory vaccines for us, because that wouldn’t be cruelty free and ‘truly’ vegan. We work as dietitians in a hospital. A lot of our patients have cancer and are receiving chemotherapy. I love animals and don’t want them harmed but boycotting a lifesaving vaccine because it’s been through mandatory animal testing doesn’t make one a better vegan it just makes one ignorant to what is necessary. Of course I wish we could abandon animal testing entirely, even in the medical field but as of right now it’s not the case and I’d rather acknowledge that, then potentially costing just one of my patients their life.
Great article!! Also did you hear about all the mink on that huge farm that had to be euthanized because of a genetic mutation on the corona virus? Of course they get killed eventually either way and that really sucks, but also lots of new mink farms have opened up, (I’ve heard, haven’t fact checked this one but I assume it’s true) in countries like China where there’s a high demand for it, now that they can’t get it imported from that other country. I think it goes to show the longer we let this virus fester and the longer we spread it, it can have a huge effect on animal suffering. Human and non human animal alike.
confused ab how there are comments from 10+ hours ago, but anyways, i just wrote a research proposal for microfluidic devices for drug testing:) not sure if it will apply to vaccines yet, but im getting my phd specifically so i can do research with these devices and begin to eliminate the need for animal models in certain experiments 🙂
I heard from a story on npr (months ago, in earlier stages) that a lot of the vaccines were being made with squaline from sharks. I’m not sure of the final contents of the vaccines, but these people on the radio were trying to push for artificial squaline. I would be curious to know how this panned out.
Hello, I am new to being vegan and almost went to just raw vegan but decided for myself that some foods I can make with fire. Still going to be eating lots of raw foods but there are lots of good veggie-based items and proteins and other foods like beans that have to be cooked taste so good. That being said I am so happy I ran into your articles as I was trying Raw Vegan meals not having a clue what I was doing I came across a article of yours. At first, I thought it is someone just boasting about themselves but as I watched more I found that you were just making discussions based on FACTS. That peeked my interest. I would love to If you are interested. Do a live stream with me just chatting away about being a vegan, perhaps helping out others like myself get a good start and possibly get in a more knowledgable and positive mindset for their chosen path. In ANY case. Thank you for your wonderful articles and look forward into perusal more. Best wishes and Bright Blessings.
Not a vegan but I love this website. Thank you for not perpetuating dangerous rhetoric & putting some actual sense out into the world. Appreciate you lady ♡ Edit – 12:35 – 13:00 THANK YOU! I’ve literally been saying this for years whenever my vegan friends get too… wild 😂 I love them & have the utmost respect for their values but at some point you have to value human life.
Why do people forget that humans are ANIMALS too. Like we are LITERALLY part of the animal kingdom so why are they excluding us in their “protect all animals” movement. Some animals are more sentient and therefore not important than others. Humans being the MOST sentient of know animals are therefore the MOST important thing to protect (even the awful ones) and even at the cost of other animals.
mandatory animal testing is the issue of vaccines not being vegan. Refusing vaccines is mostly about personal purity/virtue signaling imo. Medical and food regulation is not vegan. The issue that needs to be tackled is mandatory animal testing (am mixed on whether an outright ban on all animal testing is something I’d support atm, but it is a sensible position). If you think vaccines aren’t vegan, fighting legislation (through whatever means you think are effective and are confortable with) would be the vegan thing to do. Boycotting animal products reduces animal suffering through supply and demand, refusing vaccination doesn’t reduce demand for animal testing.
Live a healthy lifestyle, don’t smoke, don’t drink, don’t eat processed foods like beyond burgers and vegan donuts, stay active and you’ll never get sick from an animal derived disease like coronavirus…don’t get married, don’t have kids and rescue a puppy and you’ll live to be 100 with no health concerns 💚🌱
“I like to think” well that’s nice, but the reality is they don’t give a shit. Maybe some do, “ish” but not in a way they show. Actually a lot really look forward to the day they knock out their study mice! I was a research assistant for several years. I worked with mice, rats, hamsters and guinea pigs. For preclinical trials, adjuvants for Swine Flu, TB, malaria. Fred Hutch had dogs and they were in the lab beneath us. Anyway, I’m getting the vaccine, but I know no one likes hyperbole buuut all those crazy underground peta articles are basically correct.
Thanks for this article, Unnatural Vegan. Big fan. We urgently need more rational vegans. I’ve seen a number of people to stop calling themselves vegans and preferring ‘plant-based eaters’ because they’re tired of ‘vegan police’ pointing with the finger to any behaviour that doesn’t fit into their purist image of veganism. Not good for the movement and its ultimate goal. Reading some utilitarist philosophers might help! Greetings from Chile.
As Buddist I need to argue on the karma, that’s it’s real as the word itself mean “result”. So everything you do will result to yourself in some way and good action will result in a good result in some form that you may not expect (or even don’t want that result or consider the result is bad from you interpretation) and vice versa. therefore it’s science. Many people are misinterpret that karma is “bad thing will get to you” which is not.
I think Vegans getting the vaccine are setting an example of people doing what is best for the greater good however we should hold non-vegans accountable for their choices which are fuelling pandemics. If a vegan get the vaccine, a non-vegan should consider going vegan. What is the point of us taking the vaccine if the rest of the world are not willing to also do what is best for the future?
This is one of those kill or be killed scenarios that are typical for life in this universe. Veganism is a luxury. Sometimes you can not afford luxury. Even if the vaccine isn’t vegan, it’s still the right choice – unless you are such a fundamentally dysfunctional living being that you actually prefer your own group dying over other groups dying. Sometimes, you have to kill to protect your loved ones. So in reality, this is a question that does not even deserve to be asked.
I use to be vegetarian and was beginning my transition to be being vegan but then ended up in hospital for 6 months. (For mental health reasons) and every night without fail they sent me the same meal falafel balls with some badly cooked brown veggies 😳😖. I got so sick of eating the same thing and realised I needed to nourish my body to get well. I couldn’t live on the same meal and was definetely missing alot of my dietry requirements. What I ate being completely out of my control I started eating meat and dairy again. But since then I have struggled with my transition back. Money has been a huge issue. I usually have to buy oppurtunistcly whatever is on sale or clearance. But I’m hoping to be able to begin transitioning back soon. My best friend is vegetarian and close to being vegan so I think that will help me with my transition back.
As a uni student in stem (uk) animal testing is something that any resurcher finds very difficult but unfortunately (espically in this case) is the only viable option. At least here in the uk we have lots of efficacy checks to insure that animals are as comfortable and have as best a quality of life as possible. I know my other friends in steam grow very strong connections with the animals they have and ive seen how much it dose upset them to see these animals in pain or if they do unfortunately pass away. Obviously still favorable to not use animals but the resurchers who do often arnt even under the impressions that its not crule in anyway, just that it is still a step that must be taken.
I’m a medical student and an university friend of mine is currently doing her thesis. She is vegan but for this job she has to work on mice. She told me how nice the people in the lab are treating those animals. So no, People who research on animals are not evil villians who love to torture those animals. And as long as we have no other good way to get vaccines, they will be okay and necessary for me