I'm not an extremist, I just do what I think is right. For me that has meant not promoting the meat industry, and more recently not promoting the dairy industry for various reasons (animal, environmental, health). But I read this article yesterday which states,

"The most common method of making flu vaccines requires chicken eggs to incubate viral strains. It takes three eggs to produce a single dose of H1N1 flu vaccine. Vaccination of every American would require more than 920 million eggs."

I am having some trouble with this. Of course I don't think we should test on animals. But I am also a practical person. Peta does not believe in this method, not even to cure the Aids virus. What are your thoughts on this? Are there other ways to obtain these vaccines?

Original article: http://www.consumerfr...

While I think this is unfortunate it is a compromise I'm willing to make until we develop eggless vaccine production.

FYI VeganScientist recently blogged about this issue here: Future of Vaccine Production
According to the NPR article mentioned, Robert Belshe, director of the Center for Vaccine Development at St. Louis University says:

It takes about one egg to make one dose of the flu shot. It turns out that it's much more efficient to make the nasal spray vaccine. In fact, you can get hundreds of doses from one egg of the nasal spray vaccine.

Also beware of the Center for Consumer Freedom, they aren't the most credible source.

Interesting link. Thanks for the feedback! It sounds like there is some progress being made in this area, but I'd be interested to learn more. It makes me uncomfortable how many eggs are needed to make these vaccines.

Yeah and unfortunately eggs are some of the cruelest forms of animal exploitation. But if we want to change that we should let the vaccine producers know just like we would do for any issue. There is a demand to find alternatives not only from vegans and people allergic but for quicker production issues. Still, the squeaky wheel gets the grease. Get squeaky!

Thanks for the post on my post! My blog is kinda new, so I appreciate the traffic.

My 2¢: For me this boils down to the concept of herd immunity. Once a certain percentage of a population are immunized, then the spread of a disease is stopped. So if you don't get vaccinated, you basically are causing an exponential amount of people to get infected (you, people you infect, people they infect, people those guys infect....)

For lethal diseases, It's easier for me to justify 1% of a chicken abortion (for a nasal vaccine) versus some number of human lives (mine and the one's i no longer have the potential of infecting). For less lethal diseases, like seasonal flu or even H1N1, it's a little harder. However, there is significant portion of the population that can not be immunized against these diseases, and also that can cause death. This group includes immunocompromised people (People with HIV, Lupus, etc.), as well as pregnant women.

And given these times with Jennie McCarthy and Glen Beck rallying people to spread diseases, else we all turn into Liberals with Autism, I think it's especially important to think carefully about these people what could die because we choose not to get the vaccine.

It pains me to use a egg-based vaccine, but until the alternatives become widely available where I live, I feel I don't have much of a choice. Not a good one anyways.

Nessie

As someone who is currently suffering from an H1N1 infection, I would urge folks to get the vaccine if it becomes available to them. I haven't felt this bad in years. I've been in bed for 4 days now. And unfortunately, illnesses tend to hit me pretty hard and leave lingering effects because I have a chronic illness. I don't recover as easily as someone with a normally functioning immune system. I'm not able to take the nasal (live) vaccine but I do plan to get the injectable form of both the seasonal flu vaccine and the H1N1 to protect myself from different strains. It's definitely awful that eggs must be used in the production of these vaccines, but I think it's equally as awful to risk infecting someone else with an illness that they may not be able to fend off.

I heard a scientist being interviewed on NPR yesterday. He talked about what Dave mentioned, one egg making one vaccine etc. He also mentioned several methods that are in the relatively early stages of advancement, which use alternative mediums to grow the cultures (one used dog cells). Some are synthetic but the costs are still very high and the methods are not yet perfected.

Personally, I will not get a vaccine because of the use of the chicken egg. (BTW-These are not the same eggs you buy at the grocery store, they are fertilized and thus require both, a male and female to take part. They are also brown, not white.) I do not really believe we are putting people at risk by not taking the shot. This does not carry the weight of something like the plague, where millions will die. If this was a serious, major health threat, we would be seeing mandatory quarantines and mandatory vaccinations. As it is, millions of people will get sick and hundreds will die, whether I get the vaccine or not.

It does bring up the bigger question of prescription drugs though. I take several prescriptions which I know were tested on animals. I could also guess, although I'm not sure, that there may be animal ingredients in the medications themselves. It is impossible to be a true vegan in our society. Animal products are in almost everything. You can't buy a car which doesn't have animal products.

In the end though, my goal is to do the least harm possible to animals while trying to live a healthy life and help animal rights causes when I can. I think all vegans who picked that path for animal rights do the best they can while trying to fit into society.

It will take generations before we will see alternatives to most animal products but that time will come. It will have to for the sake of the planet. In the meantime, if I need to sneeze, I will do my best to protect you all from my germs.

All pharmaceuticals in the U.S. are tested on animals. It's a requirement for FDA approval. Cell toxicity tests aren't enough, as they wouldn't show effects on the whole system. Sad fact of life. If they used some of the same precautions they do when they test on humans, that would be a huge improvement. I don't see that happening anytime soon though.

I heard a scientist being interviewed on NPR yesterday. He talked about what Dave mentioned, one egg making one vaccine etc. He also mentioned several methods that are in the relatively early stages of advancement, which use alternative mediums to grow the cultures (one used dog cells). Some are synthetic but the costs are still very high and the methods are not yet perfected.

Personally, I will not get a vaccine because of the use of the chicken egg. (BTW-These are not the same eggs you buy at the grocery store, they are fertilized and thus require both, a male and female to take part. They are also brown, not white.) I do not really believe we are putting people at risk by not taking the shot. This does not carry the weight of something like the plague, where millions will die. If this was a serious, major health threat, we would be seeing mandatory quarantines and mandatory vaccinations. As it is, millions of people will get sick and hundreds will die, whether I get the vaccine or not.

It does bring up the bigger question of prescription drugs though. I take several prescriptions which I know were tested on animals. I could also guess, although I'm not sure, that there may be animal ingredients in the medications themselves. It is impossible to be a true vegan in our society. Animal products are in almost everything. You can't buy a car which doesn't have animal products.

In the end though, my goal is to do the least harm possible to animals while trying to live a healthy life and help animal rights causes when I can. I think all vegans who picked that path for animal rights do the best they can while trying to fit into society.

It will take generations before we will see alternatives to most animal products but that time will come. It will have to for the sake of the planet. In the meantime, if I need to sneeze, I will do my best to protect you all from my germs.

Your best won't be good enough for someone with a compromised immune system or a child. Have you any idea how contagious this virus is? I believe that being vegan encompasses not just fighting for the rights of non-human animals, but striving to support human rights as well.

BTW here are some recent vaccine articles that have less to do with the egg issue but I felt they were important nonetheless.

More Flu Woo For You, Boo Boo

An Epidemic of Fear: How Panicked Parents Skipping Shots Endangers Us All

Vaccination for H1N1 "swine" flu: Do The Atlantic, Shannon Brownlee, and Jeanne Lenzer matter?