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