By Dr. Michael W. Fox
This following communication considers the genesis of zoonotic diseases like the global COVID-19 pandemic as it relates to our treatment and consumption of other species. From a neuropsychiatric perspective it examines how we respond to such crises, their emotional and socio-economic consequences and what changes in human behavior are called for to more effectively prevent such catastrophic, anthropogenic health crises: “The time has come for us to rethink our relationship with all life on this planet – other humans, nonhumans, and the earth, a life form in itself. What is good for nonhumans and the earth is virtually always in the best interests of humans, given the profound interconnectedness of all life. All that we do depends upon abundant plant and animal life as well as clean air and water. Each of us can have a positive impact upon these fundamentals by demonstrating and inspiring an enhanced mindfulness, beginning most basically with what we eat and how all of our daily choices and actions may be affecting animals and natural habitats. Ultimately, the survival, not only of other life forms on this planet, but also of our own, will depend upon humanity’s ability to recognize the oneness of all that exists and the importance and deeper significance of compassion for all life” (1).
Our fear-based attitude toward viruses and bacteria is founded on our not appreciating how these and other micro-organisms function and help sustain this living world. Parts of them are in our DNA and vital cellular content and without them in our guts we would die in a few days. They can also play an environmentally beneficial role in regulating population density, in optimizing ecological biodiversity and reducing dysbiosis.
This current pandemic and other transmissible diseases that are likely to become pandemics in the future, call for ever more vaccines and medications. These are not-risk-free but will be our main, costly defense so long as preventive medicine remains human-centered and does not address, under the banner of One Health, our relationships with and treatment of other species. Specifically, wildlife farming, poaching and trafficking, habitat encroachment, our ever-increasing human numbers and consumption of animals wild and domesticated.
The concept of One Health is not new and perhaps has even enjoyed stronger endorsement and support in past decades prior to the advent of clinical specialization in human and veterinary medicine. Steps to achieving the end point of this concept and seeing it put into action internationally are well articulated by the One Health Initiative. (2) The COVID-19 pandemic, with more predicted, puts the applicability concept and its activation in bold relief.
A rise in zoonotic diseases is being driven by environmental degradation, according to a report by the UN Environment Program and the International Livestock Research Institute that cites rising demand for animal protein, intensive farming practices, exploitation of wildlife and climate change among key factors. The authors suggest adopting a One Health approach, which would unite public health, veterinary and environmental experts to respond to and prevent zoonotic disease outbreaks. (3).
Giving the public hope in protective, animal-tested vaccinations now being developed around the world and evaluating various drugs to treat infected patients may be to little avail considering how this SARS CoV-2 virus can mutate into a new strain or variant causing a different set of health problems and varying according to age, pre-existing health issues, sex and race. Vaccination limitations are a documented problem with the influenza virus that means some vaccine formulations that are not without intrinsic vaccinosis risks, will not provide adequate protection. Also, some vaccinations can mean increased susceptibility to other viral infections.
Regrettably, organized veterinary medicine in the farm/food animal sector in particular has prioritized human interests of profitability and productivity over animal health and well-being; and in poor countries and communities fails to adequately serve the animal health-needs of small producers where corruption, falsifying vaccination records and inadequate surveillance and prevention of zoonotic diseases have been well documented. (4).
Millions of mammals, amphibians, birds, insects and reptiles are imported legally into the US every year, potentially bringing with them “a kaleidoscope of pathogens,” writes former Fish and Wildlife Service inspector Jonathan Kolby. “With few exceptions, the US has no laws specifically requiring disease surveillance for wildlife entering the country, and the vast majority of wild animal imports are therefore not tested,” Kolby writes. (5)
While this reality may make one despair, all countries should be severely sanctioned economically for engaging in wildlife trafficking and for having open markets selling wild-caught animals. And there must be a redoubling of wild habitat protection from human encroachment with population control through voluntary and ready access to family planning, smaller families and communities needing fewer livestock to sustain their needs.
Philosopher David Benatar observes “It is curious, therefore, that changing the way humans treat animals—most basically, ceasing to eat them or, at the very least, radically limiting the quantity of them that are eaten—is largely off the radar as a significant preventive measure.” (6).
In an article in the The Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services the authors put the responsibility for COVID-19 squarely on our shoulders. “There is a single species that is responsible for the COVID-19 pandemic – us. As with the climate and biodiversity crises, recent pandemics are a direct consequence of human activity – particularly our global financial and economic systems, based on a limited paradigm that prizes economic growth at any cost. We have a small window of opportunity, in overcoming the challenges of the current crisis, to avoid sowing the seeds of future ones,” (7).
Hopefully this global health crisis is catalyzing international collaboration in prevention and treatment. We may yet see the emergence of a United Environmental Nations that unshackles public health from politics, nationalism, isolationism and prioritizing the economy over the health and security of the people and links public health with environmental and animal health. Above all, humans should keep out of wildlife habitat where such diseases emerge and to which we have no immunity; and for consumers in industrial countries to support producers of organically certified foods to sustain a healthful vegetarian/vegan diet with minimal or zero consumption of eggs, dairy, meat including sea foods.
Continuing to consume animals as a basic food-source, marketing ever more vaccines and having ever more children, the rich and poor alike will be subject to the indiscriminate justice of natural law until we all abide in greater harmony with other species as well as with each other. Alternatively, with deteriorating natural controls of health-sustaining biodiversity, plagues and pestilences of Biblical proportions will be the legacy of our collective failure in planetary stewardship that surviving generations will inherit.
As a One-Health advocating veterinarian I appeal to all consumers and governments to consider the impossibility of preventing such pandemics and other animal-food-borne epidemics and regional outbreaks of disease because of the enormous scale of factory farm animal production systems—billions of poultry and pigs world-wide that are the primary source of various strains of influenza virus and antibiotic-resistant strains of bacteria ( 8). It is a matter of public health and animal health and well-being to put an end to all intensive forms of food-animal production.
At best, all the suffering, death, grieving and economic impact of this latest COVID-19 pandemic will change how we chose to live: Most especially to reduce our collective exploitation and consumption of animals that bring on such pandemics and other zoonotic diseases along with accelerating climate change and loss of biodiversity as well as animal suffering.
ADDENDUM
The COVID-19 mRNA vaccines were rushed to market, with vaccine-developing companies running out of captive-bred, and many, wild-caught, monkeys they used in testing efficacy. The precautionary principle was thrown overboard. Now governmental health agencies are assessing the costs and consequences, risks, and benefits. From the data that I have seen on adverse reactions, many fatal, and vaccinated people still becoming infected, hearings are called for and compensation for afflicted survivors. The U.S. government’s National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program (VICP) provides liability protections to vaccine manufacturers and vaccine administrators who administer covered vaccines in many circumstances, these protections are not absolute. https://www.hrsa.gov/vaccine-compensation/faq
In a stunning turn of events at the recent U.S. Senate hearing, renowned cardiologist Dr. Peter McCullough delivered a bold and controversial statement regarding COVID-19 vaccines, public health policy, and medical censorship. His testimony, filled with data, personal insight, and strong warnings, has quickly gone viral—sparking national debate and media scrutiny. See
View also https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RvGCtM25fN0
Loss of speech-ability was associated with brain hemorrhage after mRNA vaccinations. Finsterer, J.& Korn, M. Aphasia seven days after second dose of an mRNA-based SARS-CoV-2 vaccine. Brain Hemorrhages. 2021 Dec;2(4):165-167. Several other harmful consequences have been compiled by Fraiman, J. et al. Serious adverse events of special interest following mRNA COVID-19 vaccination in randomized trials in adults. Vaccine. 2022; 22;40(40):5798-5805. These authors state “The excess risk of serious adverse events found in our study points to the need for formal harm-benefit analyses, particularly those that are stratified according to risk of serious COVID-19 outcomes. These analyses will require public release of participant level datasets.”
See also, https://quadrant.org.au/magazine/covid/an-injured-toxicologist-on-covid-mrna-vaccines-part-iii/
This features toxicologist Phil Burcham’s series on the mRNA vaccines that were forced on Australians during the great Covid pandemic, often at the cost of recusants’ jobs and livelihoods, and the alarming evidence of serious long-term side effects.
Another review states: “some individuals have reported chronic symptoms that developed soon after receiving a COVID-19 vaccine. This little-understood, persistent condition, referred to as post-vaccination syndrome (PVS), remains unrecognized by medical authorities, and little is known about its biological underpinnings. Some of the most common chronic symptoms of PVS include exercise intolerance, excessive fatigue, brain fog, insomnia, and dizziness. They develop shortly after vaccination, within a day or two, can become more severe in the days that follow, and persist over time. More studies are needed to understand the prevalence of PVS.”- from https://news.yale.edu/2025/02/19/immune-markers-post-vaccination-syndrome-indicate-future-research-directions#
Despite over 13 billion SARS-CoV-2 vaccine doses administered globally, persistent post-vaccination symptoms, termed post-COVID-19 vaccine syndrome (PCVS), resemble post-acute sequelae of COVID-19 (PASC). Symptoms like cardiac, vascular, and neurological issues often emerge shortly after vaccination and persist for months to years, mirroring PASC.
See Patterson, B. K., Yogendra, R., Francisco, E. B.et al. Detection of S1 spike protein in CD16+ monocytes up to 245 days in SARS-CoV-2-negative post-COVID-19 vaccine syndrome (PCVS) individuals. Human Vaccines & Immunotherapeutics, 2025;21(1). https://doi.org/10.1080/21645515.2025.2494934
See also Fraiman J, Erviti J, Jones M, et al. Serious adverse events of special interest following mRNA COVID-19 vaccination in randomized trials in adults. Vaccine. 2022; 40(40):5798-5805. doi: 10.1016/j.vaccine.2022.08.036.
According to Dr. Peter Doshi, with the University of Maryland the FDA has been ordered to release the Pfizer EUA file by June 30, 2025. On 6 December 2024, U.S. District Judge Mark T. Pittman ordered the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to publicly release all data and information submitted to the FDA underpinning the agency’s first-ever Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) granted for the Pfizer-BioNTech covid-19 vaccine on December 11, 2020.
I wish all health care professionals would spend a little time and read the adverse reactions to mRNA COVID-19 vaccinations now available to the public, For details:
BNT162b2 5.3.6 Cumulative Analysis of Post-authorization Adverse Event Reports
See also Fraiman J, Erviti J, Jones M, Greenland S, Whelan P, Kaplan RM, Doshi P. Serious adverse events of special interest following mRNA COVID-19 vaccination in randomized trials in adults. Vaccine. 2022 Sep 22;40(40):5798-5805. doi: 10.1016/j.vaccine.2022.08.036.
Both the viral infection causing COVID-19 pandemic and widely-used vaccines contain the spike protein of the virus that can cause harm in different ways to different people. This is an extremely complex issue addressed in this review that all health care providers should read:
Halma, Matthew, Vottero, Paola, Thorp, James, et al. The Possible Mechanistic Basis of Individual Susceptibility to Spike Protein Injury, Advances in Virology, 2025, 7990876, 31 pages, 2025. https://doi.org/10.1155/av/7990876
The plethora of DNA fragments in the genetically engineered COVID-19 vaccines is an issue of concern, and possibly the SV40 enhancer in the Pfizer vaccine according to Speicher, D. J., Rose, J., & McKernan, K. (2025). Quantification of residual plasmid DNA and SV40 promoter-enhancer sequences in Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna modRNA COVID-19 vaccines from Ontario, Canada. Autoimmunity, 58(1). https://doi.org/10.1080/08916934.2025.2551517
The adverse effects of vaccinations for some people, along with so-called long-COVID infection syndrome, cannot be denied. Mandatory vaccinations for airline pilots have had purportedly adverse consequences ( Sudden deaths, incapacitations soar among COVID-jabbed airline pilots: report – LifeSite).
The contamination of these genetically engineered mRNA vaccines with lipid nanoparticle carriers, and a plethora of DNA is an issue of concern. See König B, Kirchner JO. Methodological Considerations Regarding the Quantification of DNA Impurities in the COVID-19 mRNA Vaccine Comirnaty®. Methods Protoc. 2024; 7(3):41. and Azarnezhad A, et al. Toxicological profile of lipid-based nanostructures: are they considered as completely safe nanocarriers? Crit Rev Toxicol. 2020; 50(2):148-176
The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) is advising infants 6-months of age and older to be vaccinated, noting that in June, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. fired and replaced all members of the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP). The new members announced plans to review the CDC’s child and adolescent immunization schedules, an action AAP leaders and experts said is an effort to sow distrust in vaccines. Kennedy has stated that healthy children need to be vaccinated but some schools may make it mandatory. The public, and parents especially, are confused and health-care professionals have no unified opinion of benefits of vaccinations in any age group outweighing the risks.
A new review of health problems developing after vaccination concludes that
“mRNA vaccines were linked to the increased risks of thyroid, colorectal, lung, and breast cancers;. Meanwhile, vaccinated males were more vulnerable to gastric and lung cancers, whereas vaccinated females were more susceptible to thyroid and colorectal cancers. In terms of age stratification, the relatively younger population (individuals under 65 years) was more vulnerable to thyroid and breast cancers; by comparison, the older population (75 years and older) was more susceptible to prostate cancer. Booster doses substantially affected the risk of three cancer types in the vaccinated population” Citation from Kim, H. et al. 1-year risks of cancers associated with COVID-19 vaccination: a large population-based cohort study in South Korea. Biomark Res 13, 114 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1186/s40364-025-00831-w
From a One Health perspective there has been too much reliance on developing vaccines for emerging diseases and potential pandemics and insufficient emphasis on prevention as I articulate in my 2025 book One Health: Veterinary, Ethical and Environmental Perspectives.
It is notable that people in several countries on vegetarian diets had milder symptoms when they got the COVID-19 infection compared to those who eat meat and fish. Also, people deficient in dietary vitamin D3 and selenium and various protective antioxidants are more prone to viral infections. Outbreaks of disease attributed to a nutritional deficiency may result from infection by a virus that has become pathogenic by replicating in a nutritionally deficient host according to one review. See Beck MA. Nutritionally induced oxidative stress: effect on viral disease. Am J Clin Nutr. 2000 Jun;71(6 Suppl):1676S-81S. doi: 10.1093/ajcn/71.6.1676S.
Some essential oils are antiviral (Silva JKRD, et al. Essential Oils as Antiviral Agents. Potential of Essential Oils to Treat SARS-CoV-2 Infection: An In-Silico Investigation. Int J Mol Sci. 2020;21(10):3426. doi: 10.3390/ijms21103426. Also some herbal extracts have antiviral properties, reviewed by de Oliveira JR, et al Antiviral activity of medicinal plant-derived products against SARS-CoV-2. Exp Biol Med (Maywood). 2022;247(20):1797-1809. doi: 10.1177/15353702221108915. These natural products have been marginalized by Big Pharma and its influence on medical school curriculum.
All of this means that governmental health care agencies should focus more on nutrition-education and a more holistic approach to health care and treatments, and not align exclusively with Big Pharma and become over-reliant on vaccinations.
The current administration has caused public confusion and distrust in science and medical advice that is, regrettably spilling over and putting cats and dogs at risk when their owners do not follow veterinary advice regarding core vaccinations that all kittens and puppies should receive. An estimated 45 percent of US households own a dog and nearly 40 percent of dog owners believe that canine vaccines are unsafe. Since 2020, pet owners are much more hesitant with any type of vaccine, including pet vaccinations according to one review. See Matt Motta, et al. Sick as a dog? The prevalence, politicization, and health policy consequences of canine vaccine hesitancy (CVH), Vaccine,2023: 41: 5946-5950.
At the very least I would advise not giving other vaccinations, such as influenza, at the same time as the mRNA COVID-19, since this would confound adverse reaction data collection. I have made the same recommendation for many years for dogs and cats being given the anti-rabies vaccination that should not be combined with other vaccinations at the same time, or given to an animal who is not well. Vaccinations are of great value in preventing highly communicable diseases such as small pox, measles in children and distemper and parvovirus in puppies, but the precautionary principle must be applied. Also, some viruses continue to mutate, calling for vaccinations to be appropriately up-dated to be effective against new variants. But, as I emphasize in my book One Health: Veterinary, Ethical and Environmental Perspectives (CRC Press, 2025), the over-reliance on vaccinations by public health authorities not simultaneously promoting other health-care and disease-prevention initiatives, especially promoting good nutrition, sanitation, and food, water and air quality and safety, is a regrettable fact.
In my opinion, the risks of mRNA vaccines, a product of genetic engineering biotechnology, have never been fully addressed or exposed by either the manufacturers or governmental health regulatory agencies promoting their use, and the precautionary principle needs to be more rigorously adopted
REFERENCES
1.Wiebers, D. O., & Feigin, V. L. (2020). What the COVID-19 Crisis Is Telling Humanity. Neuroepidemiology, 54(4), 283–286.
3.https://news.un.org/en/story/2020/07/1067711
4 D.L. Krantz and M.W. Fox, India’s Animals: Helping the Sacred and the Suffering, 2016. Amazon.com
5 J. Kolby, To prevent the next pandemic, it’s the legal wildlife trade we should worry about. https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/2020/05/to-prevent-next-pandemic-focus-on-legal-wildlife-trade/
6 D. Benatar, Editorial: The Chickens Come Home to Roost. Am J. Public Health 97: 1546, 2020
7.J. Settele, S. Díaz, E. Brondizio and P. Daszak COVID-19 Stimulus Measures Must Save Lives, Protect Livelihoods, and Safeguard Nature to Reduce the Risk of Future Pandemics April 27th 2020 Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services
8.M.W. Fox Healing Animals and the Vision of One Health CreateSpace Books/Amazon.com 2011
ADDENDUM
PREVENTING FUTURE PANDEMICS
Relying on ever more vaccines and pharmaceuticals to treat emerging zoonoses, diseases transmitted from animals to humans, and mass extermination of animal carriers of such diseases, is profitable for a few but no solution when preventive measures are not put first.
An article by Laura H. KahnandRichard Seifman, It’s Time to Get Serious About Preventing Pandemics: A new World Bank/WHO Fund could treat prevention as a priority and for which the One Health interdisciplinary approach is critical (It’s Time to Get Serious About Preventing Pandemics – Impakter) spells this out very clearly. Kahn and Seifman state : “The good news is that the World Bank with the World Health Organization is about to launch a brand-new international multilateral financing mechanism called the “Pandemic Prevention, Preparedness and Response” Financial Intermediate Fund (FIF) to provide long-term funding to address pandemics .FIF is targeted to reach $12.5 billion within five years.,,, Unfortunately, the preparedness and response parts of the mechanism are receiving the lion’s share of the attention and funding compared to the prevention part. …We must include veterinarians and other animal health professionals who receive extensive education and training in zoonotic diseases, and environmental health experts to be part of the pandemic [One Health] prevention solution. So far, their involvement has been minimal which jeopardizes the effort’s success.”
I would add a note of concern with regard to the potential pandemic-potentiating consequences of documented cellular, immunological and other adverse health effects of non-ionizing radiation from 3G, 4G and still not proven safe but now widely rolled out 5G telecommunications from cell phone towers and satellites.
Authors Hardell and Nyberg state that “In an appeal sent to the EU in September, 2017 currently >260 scientists and medical doctors requested for a moratorium on the deployment of 5G until the health risks associated with this new technology have been fully investigated by industry-independent scientists.” (Hardell L, Nyberg R. Appeals that matter or not on a moratorium on the deployment of the fifth generation, 5G, for microwave radiation. Mol Clin Oncol. 2020 Mar;12(3):247-257. ).
For further documentation see: Levitt BB, Lai HC, Manville AM. Effects of non-ionizing electromagnetic fields on flora and fauna, part 1. Rising ambient EMF levels in the environment. Rev Environ Health. 2021 May 27;37(1):81-122 Levitt, B. & Lai, Henry & Manville, Albert. (2021). Effects of non-ionizing electromagnetic fields on flora and fauna, Part 2 impacts: How species interact with natural and man-made EMF. Rev Environ Health. 10.1515/reveh-2021-0050. and https://ehtrust.org/in-historic-decision-federal-court-finds-fcc-failed-to-explain-why-it-ignored-scientific-evidence-showing-harm-from-wireless-radiation/
WHY FAUCI’S LEGACY IS A FAILURE
The article by Ari Schulman, Why Fauci’s legacy is a failure (Star Tribune 9/1/22) underscores an essential flaw in the U.S. Public Health Service. As Schulman asserts, “A science that people will follow must lead.”
Science without ethics is hazardous: Ethics without science is vacuous. Science informs politics and ethics guide when politicians are committed to serve the common good and the good of the Commons.
The science and bioethics of a One Health approach to pandemic prevention must be adopted by the U.S. Public Health Service. A One Health approach calls for informed public involvement linked with animal health (animals being the primary source of new and old pandemics) and environmental protection. Such an integrative approach to pandemic prevention rather than the marketing of ever more vaccines and pharmaceuticals is long overdue.
Mental Health Consequences of COVID-19 Vaccinations
Kim, H.J., Kim, MH., Choi, M.G. et al. Psychiatric adverse events following COVID-19 vaccination: a population-based cohort study in Seoul, South Korea. Mol Psychiatry 29, 3635–3643 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41380-024-02627-0
COVID-19 vaccination differentially affects occurrences of psychiatric disorders. It increased the risks of depression, anxiety, dissociative, stress-related, and somatoform disorders, and sleep disorders while reducing the incidence and risk of schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.
Patone M, Handunnetthi L, Saatci D, Pan J, Katikireddi SV, Razvi S, et al. Neurological complications after first dose of COVID-19 vaccines and SARS-CoV-2 infection. Nat Med. 2021;27:2144–53.
Buchan SA, Seo CY, Johnson C, Alley S, Kwong JC, Nasreen S, et al. Epidemiology of Myocarditis and Pericarditis Following mRNA vaccination by vaccine product, schedule, and interdose interval among adolescents and adults in Ontario, Canada. JAMA Netw Open. 2022;5:e2218505.
Harrison PJ, Taquet M. Neuropsychiatric disorders following SARS-CoV-2 infection. Brain. 2023;146:2241–7.
Cozzolino A, Hasenmajer V, Newell-Price J, Isidori AM. COVID-19 pandemic and adrenals: deep insights and implications in patients with glucocorticoid disorders. Endocrine. 2023;82:1–14.
Trougakos IP, Terpos E, Alexopoulos H, Politou M, Paraskevis D, Scorilas A, et al. Adverse effects of COVID-19 mRNA vaccines: the spike hypothesis. Trends Mol Med. 2022;28:542–54.
Yonker LM, Swank Z, Bartsch YC, Burns MD, Kane A, Boribong BP, et al. Circulating spike protein detected in Post-COVID-19 mRNA vaccine myocarditis. Circulation. 2023;147:867–76.
Khayat-Khoei M, Bhattacharyya S, Katz J, Harrison D, Tauhid S, Bruso P, et al. COVID-19 mRNA vaccination leading to CNS inflammation: a case series. J Neurol. 2022;269:1093–106
Where did the COVID-19 come from?
Posting from https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-024-03982-2
As a background note, the U.S. government, after some biosecurity lapses, sent funds to transfer coronavirus research to China. Part of the allegation of a Wuhan biosecurity failure to contain the SARS-CoV-2 virus might have been fomented by the Chinese “wet market” industry to deflect responsibility. These markets are widespread, killing caged and terrified wildlife and domestic animals in public spaces, especially in regions lacking refrigeration and humane animal slaughtering facilities. In the process they create a significant risk to public health, now affirmed globally by the COVID-19 pandemic. China and all countries with open live animal markets have a social, as well as an ethical, humane responsibility to close all such facilities.