The Vegetarian Resource Group Blog

Cholesterol in Pfizer and Moderna Vaccine

Posted on February 16, 2021 by The VRG Blog Editor

Below, the author of this VRG blog post responds to a reader’s comment “The last ingredient listed is “cholesterol,” which is animal based.”

Cholesterol is classically recognized as an animal-based product, so the cholesterol comment makes sense. However, there are companies that sell plant-based lipids that are used to make pharmaceuticals. These companies take plant sterols and synthetically modify them to make cholesterol. Pfizer-BioNTech may have used one of these companies. Moderna released this statement:

“The Moderna COVID 19 Vaccine contains no preservatives, no antibiotics, and no products from human or animal origin.” The Moderna COVID-19 vaccine also contains cholesterol. See:

https://www.modernatx.com/covid19vaccine-eua/recipients/faq

     If a reader sees documented information on the cholesterol origin, please share.

Note: We also have a VRG blog/Facebook posting on cholesterol and food labeling that might interest you. See: https://www.vrg.org/blog/wp-login.php?redirect_to=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.vrg.org%2Fblog%2Fwp-admin%2F&reauth=1

0 to “Cholesterol in Pfizer and Moderna Vaccine”

  1. Mel says:

    This is very useful information, thank you. I don’t really want to ‘shop for a vaccine’, I just want to get it done, as a way to end this pandemic. Now I can have a bit of confidence in the Moderna one. Please keep us updated on what you know.



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