Vegan/ non-Vegan, Vegetarian/ non-Vegetarian, Kosher/ non-Kosher and Halal/ non-Halal Vaccines and Medicines

                                      Vegan/ non-Vegan, Vegetarian/ non-Vegetarian, Kosher/ 

                   non-Kosher and Halal/ non-Halal Vaccines and Medicines

Source: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/381483065_Vegan_non-Vegan_Veg_non-Veg_Kosher_non-Kosher_and_Halalnon-Halal_Vaccines_and_Medicines

We have been using vaccine shots for more than 100 years now, Edward Jenner's first smallpox vaccination took place in 1796. In St. Louis, 13 children died of tetanus-contaminated diphtheria antitoxin. In the autumn of 1901, nine children in Camden, New Jersey, died from the tainted smallpox vaccine. Thus, to ensure the purity of biological treatments by the government the first Biologics Control Act of 1902 came into existence followed by similar acts in different countries. There is hardly anyone on the earth who has never been jabbed with one or other vaccine, certainly, those vaccines were not classified as Vegan, Vegetarian, Kosher, Jain or Halal because all these terms pertain to diets, not medicines and vaccines. If the question of Vegan, Vegetarian, Kosher or Halal in the case of medicines and vaccines exists then we have already lost our faith and violated our religion innumerably because of the use of substances prohibited by one or other faith and beliefs have been used unaccountably. Why did the question of Vegan/ non-vegan, Jain/non-Jain, Kosher/ non-Kosher, Veg/ non-Veg and Halal/non-Halal vaccines emerge only a few years ago? It appears to be a reactionary antivaccination move by people probably against autocratic decisions to force COVID-19 vaccination globally. To find an escape from being jabbed with poorly tested for efficacy and safety of not only the vaccine but also the novel vaccine technology used (mRNA), and emergency-approved vaccines people started to find solace in religion and faith, the last resort available to helpless. Another important reason for ethnic acceptability of vaccine(s) may be the information revolution especially social media (with half-truths and providing malicious information too, https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10943-023-01798-4) making most of the needed and not-needful information available to all through internet and knowing the facts about the composition of vaccine(s) and medicine(s). However, I feel that vested interests of different groups including the researchers and pharmaceuticals interested in minting money for providing ethnically accepted vaccine(s) and medicine(s). Pharmaceuticals are always for financially exploiting consumers for their specific choices, ethnic beliefs, and religious concerns. Jains and vegans consider the consumption of animals and their products inhumane and vegetarians too (except milk and milk products) that they can’t take any vaccine and many lifesaving medicines. To satisfy their needs specifically of vegans, the Medicago Covifenz® COVID-19 vaccine, a SARS-CoV-2 spike (S) recombinant (adjuvanted), protein virus-like particle (VLP) expressed in plants has been developed. However, how to test and conduct clinical trials of such vegan vaccines, will vegans/ Jains or Vegetarians will submit themselves to conduct all tests (safety, potency and efficacy) on vaccines/ medicines required for their public use/ clearance for public sale? And, how can vegans forget that the process before expressing VLPs in plants how much work was done on animals and using animal products? It is a similar case as we say, I bought meat from the market I haven’t killed any animal, and it makes not much difference if I buy or not that meat because, after all, it is in the market and destined to be consumed.

            Almost 50% of the vaccines to control viral diseases and few bacterial diseases are invariably produced after inoculating embryonated eggs incubated for 7-12, and all lives are killed in the process. The most widely used egg-based vaccines include, seasonal inactivated influenza vaccine (s), pandemic inactivated influenza vaccine(s) e.g. H1N1, bird or swine flu vaccines, Yellow-fever vaccine, Q fever vaccine, Rabies vaccine, most avian viral vaccines, Japanese encephalitis vaccine, Chlamydia, Rickettsia (Typhus vaccine) vaccines, Smallpox vaccine (https://uomustansiriyah.edu.iq/media/lectures/6/6_2021_09_12!12_02_26_AM.pdf). That is all Vegans, Vegetarians and Jain have already spoiled their faith after getting one or other vaccine shot. To cash on the faith of such people, an egg-free flu vaccine (Flublok Quadrivalent) has been licensed for use in the United States, and the Shingles vaccine has no egg products in Shingrix® but is not for Vegans/ Vegetarians or Jains but for those who are allergic to ovalbumin as it contains an ingredient because it is produced in Chinese Hamster Ovary cells. 

Faith of Hindus (not accepting any cow meat or cow blood products), Jains, Vegans and Vegetarians has already been shattered as they have no choice because foetal bovine serum (FBS) is the most commonly used component of most viruses and many bacterial culture media used during vaccine production. However, due to possible allergic reactions in humans to bovine serum albumin (an important ingredient in FBS) BSA the World Health Organization (WHO) has set an upper limit of BSA (≤50 ng BSA per dose). Most of the nasal spray and oral vaccines contain albumen BSA to help the vaccine antigen bypass the nasal or oral mucosal barriers. Besides allergies to BSA another major scientific concern to limit the use of FBS is the possible transmission of some pathogens including prions, viruses, Mycoplasma, or other unidentified zoonotic microbes. To avoid the use of BSA, the use of human albumin is suggested (but fear of indirect cannibalism emerges here) GSK's varicella vaccine is created with the use of human serum albumin (HSA) to stabilize the viral antigen and to prevent the antigen from adhering on walls of vaccine vials.  

With the use of vaccines and many other medicines not only the faith and sentiments of Jains, Hindus, Vegans and Vegetarians have been risked but the use of gelatin (the most common stabilizer almost invariably used in live virus vaccines and is commonly of porcine origin extracted from bones, skin, or tissue, usually from pork or beef) also thwarted the faith of Muslims (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10612269/) and Jews as pigs are not allowed to be consumed in both of religions (pigs are Haram for Muslims and not consumable for Jews being an animal which doesn’t chew the cud). To cash on the faith of people, Rabavert to prevent Rabies and Shingrix to prevent Shingles have been prepared without containing pig gelatine. But gelatin is used in a very wide range of capsulated medicines and vaccines (Vivitif, an oral Typhoid vaccine). Various vaccines contain variable amounts of pig gelatin ranging from 2mg/ dose (Flumist for Flu) to 14.5 mg/ dose (MMR II for Measels, Mumps, Rubella, and Varicella. Further to cash on the faith of people certifications like Kosher and Halal for the use of meat and meat products are in practice but the validity of such certificates is always questionable in factory-produced animal products and most animal-origin ingredients used in vaccine and medicine production. Moreover, in many of the countries where millions of animals are sacrificed every day for meat and other products, the truth of not only Halal certification but also certification of fitness for product consumption suitability is under questionable validity.

Other common products of animal origin used in modern medicine are lactose, glycerin, and stearic acid, insulin required by diabetics is extracted from the animal pancreas, and human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) for treating infertility is extracted from pregnant women's urine, thyroxin to treat hypertension is from sheep thyroid, vitamin A, D and omega-3 fatty acids are from fish oils, antitoxin serum against snake venom, and tetanus toxin etc are the product of horse blood or produced in animals, heparin and enoxaparin (blood thinners), thyroid hormones, pancrelipase (for pancreatic insufficiency) come from pigs, conjugated oestrogens (to treat hot flushes and other menopause problems) is from mare urine, intralipid (intravenous nutrition required by people in a coma) and propofol (diprivan, an anaesthetic relaxant) are of poultry egg origin (https://www.goodrx.com/well-being/diet-nutrition/medications-that-contain-animal-byproducts). Toxins from the venom of snakes, spiders, centipeds and several other animals have been used for the treatment of chronic pains, heart problems and type 2 diabetes. The best calcium and iron supplements are usually of animal origin.

Not only in medicine and vaccines but we use several animal products in our daily lives viz., sodium tallowate, used in making soaps comes from tallow, fat of animals such as cattle and sheep, shellac (laakh) is a resin excreted by female insects (Kerria lacca) for their progeny, silk comes from silkworms (cocoons often boiled live).

In Ayurvedic medicine about 15–20% of therapeutic agents are derived from animals, most used products are dung, urine and milk of cows, buffalo, sheep, goats, camels, horses, dogs, elephants and humans. Not only secretions and excretions but body parts of animals like peafowl’s legs rubbed in water for ear infection, pig tallow for massage in pain management, sambhar antlers rubbed in water for eye ailments, pigeon blood for massage in paralysis, collared dove meat for puberty in girls, crow and bat flesh to treat whooping cough, house sparrow droppings to treat asthma, dog flesh to treat wound infections, goat skin covered to turmeric to treat pneumonia and blood is rubbed to cure fractures, hyena blood and flesh for asthma, ass blood for massage on arthritic joints, jackal flesh for asthma and sciatica, blood for massage to cure arthritis, roasted rat to cure baldness etc. (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1636027; https://nopr.niscpr.res.in/bitstream/123456789/25966/1/IJTK%202(4)%20346-356.pdf), that is Ayurveda doesn’t preach for pure vegetarianism.

Similarly, Unani medicine also uses several animal products as therapeutic agents viz., the secretion of testes (semen) of the animal to cure nervous disorders, epilepsy and hysteria marinated (in saline water) earthworm dried as aphrodisiac, amber ( secretion from, a whale mouth) to control tetanus, loss of sensation, palpitation and sexual debility, fish extracts can be used as cardiac tonic and aphrodisiac, blood and flesh of pigeon for improving blood circulation and treatment of paralysis etc. Not only animal products but live animals like leeches (joint pains), wasps and maggots (for infected wounds) are used in Unani therapeutics (https://applications.emro.who.int/imemrf/Hamdard_Med/Hamdard_Med_2012_55_1_5_9.pdf).

Chinese medicine went a few steps further even to use wild and endangered animals and their products like tiger bones, tiger penis, bones of antelope, buffalo or rhino horns, deer antlers, testicles and os penis of the dog, bear or snake bile, pangolins’ scales, blood, and foetuses  in therapeutics (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/12801499/#:~:text=Traditional%20Chinese%20medicine%20(TCM)%20has,dog%2C%20bear%20or%20snake%20bile; https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/these-chinese-medicines-actually-contain-body-parts-from-animals.html). In traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), rhinoceros horn is used to treat fever, convulsions, and delirium, bones of Panthera tigris have been used in wines, plasters, and manufactured medicines to treat arthritis and other joint ailments, soupe of tiger penis is used for increasing virility, bear bile to liver ailments and headaches, Musk of musk deer is used to promote circulation and to treat skin infections and abdominal pain, and seahorses for kidney ailments, circulatory problems, and impotence (https://www.britannica.com/explore/savingearth/traditional-chinese-medicine-and-endangered-animals-2).

Therefore, questions of faith, religion and ethnic values may be kept aside concerning medicines, vaccines and other therapeutic supplements used in modern medicine because modern medicine and therapeutic are much younger in origin than any of the faiths and religions and may be considered as the advancement or origin of a New Universal Religion.