While chatting with friends about flu season and flu vaccines one person said vegans don’t need vaccines. When I asked why they said “they have stronger immunity”. Is this true?
I doubt it, but I’d assume vegans would avoid flu vaccines because they’re made from eggs.
I very seriously doubt it.
But there is a reason why a vegan might not want to get a flu shot. The germs for flu shots are grown inside eggs, which a vegan might find objectionable. And it’s not as if the annual flu is generally life-threatening to an otherwise healthy young adult- it’s more of an inconvenience, so I can respect their desire to not get one because flu vaccines use eggs. If it were something that is life-threatening, I’d be a lot less sympathetic. I go without a flu vaccine just because I have a phobia of needles. If it were for something life-threatening, I would get it, but it’s not.
As a vegan who currently has a cold and who did take a flu vaccine and who exercises daily, I don’t see any reason why your friend’s statement would be valid.
Wouldn’t it depend on what the vegan eats? Being a vegan just means that they don’t eat meat, dairy (and eggs). Still on the list is potato chips and french fries, not the healthiest food choices.
And I also think that peoples’ immunity and constitution is somewhat genetically determined, although I also think that this could be improved by better eating and exercising habits.
Many healthy young people get flu shots to protect their friends, lovers, relatives, coworkers, patients, neighbors, customers, etc. who may be pregnant, very young, very old, infirm, immunosuppressed, or otherwise at risk of dying from flu.
I really don’t know where to begin with this one. The premise that eating better leads to a healthier immune system might be shaky when comparing two fully nourished individuals, but I will believe it without a cite. Now, the premises that eating only plant matter is eating ‘better’ and that all vegans are properly nourished and get all of their elements from their diet just because they are vegan I am going to need some evidence on.
A vegan diet can provide all the required macro and micro nutrients. So can a non-vegan diet. We know that vegan diets generally provide sufficient nutrition and do not catastrophically impact health and vitality. Most vegans can maintain at least an average modern lifestyle. Now, starting from barely sufficient you need a lot of citations to prove ‘better’. Notice that quite a lot of foods associated with health problems in our society are vegetarian and can and are being made vegan by excluding animal products and substituting with soy or rice - fried snacks, breads, pastas, sweets, beers (although finding vegan beer or wine might be a pain in the ass), oils.
Seeing how people put away giant dishes of fettucine alfredo at Olive Garden, top it off with chocolate cake and stop-off for donuts on the way home, I can see how you can imagine their health sucks, but imagining them being the same people but eating a vegan diet doesn’t change a damn thing. Of course the alfredo, the cake and the donuts are going to taste friggin odd with animal products replaced by soya and rice, but there’s nothing fundamentally less or more healthy about them being vegan.
Now, getting to the last part – if vegans don’t need vaccines at all just because they are vegan I am going to eat my hat. I am going to need some smallpox, polio, and measles and an unvaccinated vegan before I believe that though.