Link to research doc: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1wVRX5GKrb1Sk021-1Opc-oj_zn0oYf5EFNtqRjaKNlc/edit?usp=sharing

Since we confirmed the position to be pro-vaccination but not anti-vegan, we think vegan parents who do not get their children vaccinated may be the wrongest character for this matter. To get to this point, our group also found several resources that explained the effectiveness of vaccinations in a comprehensible way. From Joseph’s research, Vegan Biologist (2016) published “Why you should vaccinate”, claiming “World Health Organisation estimates that 2-3 million deaths are prevented by immunisation every year.” It is also the reason that some terrible infectious diseases in past centuries have almost vanished. Trista’s research mentions a more detailed example: An unvaccinated mother had the healthiest lifestyle imaginable when she was a child, but she still got numbers of infectious diseases and even HPV in her 20s. As a result, she thought carefully and got her two children vaccinated. This example strongly argues against people who believe humans have natural immunity and also proves the necessity of vaccinations. In my opinion, most vegan parents obviously know about this basic knowledge, but some of them are ethically ‘hijacked’ by the vegan lifestyle. And this becomes the biggest mocking point. 

In recent years, more and more people decide to be vegans and they have formed lots of online forums which make our research much easier. Two to three years ago, some vegans posted articles such as “Vaccine warning – they are NOT vegan” and “Which vaccines are vegan?” It is understandable that people want to be parts of the group, so they just follow this ‘trend’. Vaccines do contain animal ingredients and require animal testing. However, it is just “lesser of two evils” principle. 

The first question for anti-vax vegans is why do you choose to be a vegan? This point appears in every article of pro-vax vegans – Veganism is trying your best to reduce the harm and exploitation of animals. Right now, no other ways can completely replace animal testing in medicine production, so vegans need to make a choice between their children’s health and animal rights. Among these researches, most vegans understand the conflict and try to explain to others, but it is hard to examine whether the other side can accept. 

In addition, do parents really know about the negative effects of not getting vaccinated? I found a vegan couple shared posts about their five unvaccinated kids to support Kat Von D. They used the same words as Kat: “It’s her body, it’s her child.” However, abstaining vaccinations do affect other people. Vegan Biologist mentioned ‘herd immunity’, which generally means a high coverage of vaccinations can eliminate diseases, so people without antibodies are protected. From this perspective, anti-vax vegans are imposing their lifestyle upon children and causing risk to others.

In all, this topic does have lots of mocking points to talk about. People have lots of different opinions on vaccines and vegans and majorities are on the pro-vax side. However, people often pay more attention on the negative news so anti-vaxxers still have great influences.