While research for a COVID-19 vaccine pushes forward, one casualty that no one’s talking about is the death of 500,000 sharks, whose livers are used to make squalene, an ingredient in some of the vaccines.
The livers produce an oil that scientists emulsify in water to produce something called squalene. Squalene is used in vaccines as an adjuvant to “turbo-boost” immunogenicity and reduce the amount of viral antigen needed to make the vaccine work. In rats, squalene has been shown to trigger chronic immune system inflammation.
According to the New Zealand Herald, as many as 3 million sharks a year are already killed for existing vaccines. COVID-19 vaccine development trials are expected to cause the slaughter of another half-million to harvest the livers’ oils — and conservationists are worried that this could push some shark species to the brink of extinction.
SOURCE: NZ Herald September 27, 2020