DEAR DR. FOX: I visited your website in my search to make sense out of vaccination recommendations, both for animals and people. There is so much misinformation and so many conspiracy theories out there.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr., an anti-vaxxer, has replaced the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices with his own cadre of people. What’s going on, and where do we go from here? -- I.P., West Palm Beach, Florida

DEAR I.P.: You know from my previous posts on vaccinations (see drfoxonehealth.com/post/animal-vaccination-concerns-vaccine-associated-autoimmune-and-other-diseases) that I am not opposed to the judicious use of vaccines, for humans and for companion animals, as long as caution is applied. However, I am concerned about the new generation of mRNA vaccines that the CDC approved for human use at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The COVID-19 mRNA vaccines were brought to market as quickly as possible, given the severity of the pandemic. Now, governmental health agencies are assessing the costs, consequences, risks and benefits of that haste. From the data that I have seen on adverse reactions, hearings are called for.

In my opinion, the risks of mRNA vaccines -- products of genetic engineering and biotechnology -- have never been fully addressed or exposed by the manufacturers, nor by the governmental health regulatory agencies promoting their use. The precautionary principle needs to be more rigorously adopted. RFK Jr.’s new CDC vaccine panel will, hopefully, rise to the challenge, applying sound science to their decision-making.

Below are some studies, articles and other links of interest on the subject.

-- Some adverse effects were documented by Joseph Fraiman et al. in the study "Serious adverse events of special interest following mRNA COVID-19 vaccination in randomized trials in adults," published in Vaccine in 2022. The 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.”

-- Yale News (news.yale.edu) ran an article in February entitled "Immune markers of post-vaccination syndrome indicate future research directions." It states that “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.”

-- Per Reuters, on Dec. 6, U.S. District Judge Mark T. Pittman ordered the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to publicly release all data and information submitted to the FDA underpinning the agency’s first-ever Emergency Use Authorization, granted for the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine in 2020.

-- The U.S. government’s National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program provides liability protections to vaccine manufacturers and vaccine administrators who administer covered vaccines in many circumstances; however, these protections are not absolute. For details, see hrsa.gov/vaccine-compensation/faq.

-- The use of mRNA vaccines in livestock is opposed by the U.S. Cattlemen’s Association, at least “until scientifically sound raw data is available for open review by researchers with no conflicts of interest, and publicly available research studies are published and peer-reviewed on the short- and long-term health, safety and fertility effects" of such products on the inoculated animals, as well as on the humans who consume their meat or milk. (Full statement: uscattlemen.org/usca-establishes-policy-regarding-mrna-technologies.)

-- An mRNA vaccine is being developed to prevent feline infectious peritonitis in cats. See the study "Feline Infectious Peritonitis mRNA Vaccine Elicits Both Humoral and Cellular Immune Responses in Mice" by Terza Brostoff et al., published in Vaccines in 2024.

(Send all mail to animaldocfox@gmail.com or to Dr. Michael Fox in care of Andrews McMeel Syndication, 1130 Walnut St., Kansas City, MO 64106. The volume of mail received prohibits personal replies, but questions and comments of general interest will be discussed in future columns.

Visit Dr. Fox’s website at DrFoxOneHealth.com.)

DEAR READERS: I have a friend who was nearly scammed in her search to adopt a little Yorkie pup. She was about to send money over the internet, but then realized the ad was fake. This is not an uncommon practice, according to two reports:

-- Animal Charity of Ohio warned people in May about a scam involving a fake Venmo account, which was soliciting donations through text messages. The organization, which operates a veterinary clinic and animal welfare programs, relies on donations for its work, and its legitimate Venmo account is verifiable. (Full story: WFMJ-TV, Youngstown, Ohio; May 4)

-- A scammer used the address of a legitimate cat adoption center in North Carolina to fraudulently collect a deposit for a Maine coon cat that didn’t exist. The victim paid a deposit through a mobile app and was sent to Safe Haven for Cats to pick up the nonexistent animal. The center is warning people to be cautious about social media posts for specific breeds, and never to pay in advance. (Full story: WTVD-TV, Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina, May 2)

It is tragic that there are people who would exploit animals and our affection for them in this way. Such people should be identified and prosecuted. My advice, often repeated in this column, is not to buy any animals online, but rather, go to the source -- the shelter or the breeder (or have a friend who lives closer do so, if necessary). Evaluate the facilities and confirm the adoption/sale in person.

I am saddened by the recent NPR report that shelters are filling up with surrendered dogs and cats: a socioeconomic crisis for companion animals.

DEAR DR. FOX: In our yard, we have a birdbath and many trees that the local birds use. We also have a swimming pool, and we occasionally find birds that are dead, or close to it, in the water. If the bird is alive, we care for it until it dies. We often find baby birds that haven’t fully developed.

When we rescue a bird, within days, we find quarter-sized blobs of jelly-looking stuff around our pool. It looks like it is intentionally placed there by birds. My dad thinks it’s a thank-you from the birds for our rescue efforts. He is very attuned to all animals, as am I.

Can you explain this behavior? -- D.H., Lantana, Florida

DEAR D.H.: Birds sometimes vomit a jelly-like material from their crops when they are ill. Finding this substance around your pool could mean that the chemicals in the treated pool water are making the birds sick. Alternatively, it could be related to the avian influenza virus currently decimating bird populations and harming other species in many countries.

Fledglings learning to fly, along with all manner of insects, often drown in outdoor pools, which should be covered when not in use to avoid such incidents. Some pools are even illuminated at night, creating a death trap for little creatures.

Are private swimming pools another abomination of conspicuous consumption, like golf courses? Potentially. The chemicals used on golf courses contaminate freshwater ecosystems, and often eventually come out of our faucets -- and into our swimming pools. Ornithologists are alarmed by the rapid declines of many species across the country.

When an injured or sick bird is found and there is no wildlife rescue and rehabilitation facility close by, simply put the bird on a towel in a closed box, then set the box in a quiet place to see if the animal recovers. Being handled can trigger a heart attack in a wild bird, so the less handling, the better.

(Send all mail to animaldocfox@gmail.com or to Dr. Michael Fox in care of Andrews McMeel Syndication, 1130 Walnut St., Kansas City, MO 64106. The volume of mail received prohibits personal replies, but questions and comments of general interest will be discussed in future columns.

Visit Dr. Fox’s website at DrFoxOneHealth.com.)

DEAR READERS: Humans first evolved as a distinct species, Homo sapiens, around 300,000 years ago in Africa. In terms of biological time, we are a young species on this planet -- an unfinished animal, our evolution not yet fully determined.

Our evolutionary history is a path of conflict, war, destruction and creativity. We become the gods we believe in through our treatment of nature and other sentient beings. Breaking free, to some degree, from the forces of natural selection that shaped our species allowed cultural selection to take over from one epoch to another.

With our infantile lack of self-restraint, humans became an invasive and destructive species -- a nihilistic life form that must now be constrained. We must either evolve or suffer the consequences. In his book “Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind,” author Yuval Noah Harari writes: “Unfortunately, the Sapiens regime on earth has so far produced little that we can be proud of. We have mastered our surroundings, increased food production, built cities, established empires, and created far-flung trade networks. But did we decrease the amount of suffering in the world? Time and again, massive increases in human power did not necessarily improve the well-being of individual Sapiens, and usually caused immense misery to other animals.”

Other authors have expressed similar sentiments. In his book “Eating Animals,” Jonathan Safran Foer writes about “forgetting” as a central part of our relationship with animals -- the way that consumers avoid considering the reality of industrial meat production.

In his 1907 book “The New Ethics,” American zoologist and philosopher J. Howard Moore asked, “Shall we be cruel and selfish, bigoted and imperialistic, thinking only of ourselves and sacrificing the interests of others to our own heartless purposes? Or shall we be the responsible administrators of the universe, presiding over the affairs of the earth honorably and equitably, with a mind single to the good of all? Which shall it be: the savage law of might, or the great law of love?”

Moore advocated extending the golden rule to all living beings, but the truth is that we have yet to master caring for our own physical, mental and spiritual well-being. There are many paths to healing and wholeness. All paths will eventually converge, and in our biological evolution, we will soon face one final choice: suicide or adoration. In other words, we can choose the extinction of all that makes us human, or we can choose reverence for life -- the only path to world peace, as advocated by Dr. Albert Schweitzer.

To live creatively, and to co-evolve in harmony with the life community of planet Earth -- consciously and spiritually, free from fear, prejudice, hatred, enmity, envy and greed -- is the empathic path of an enlightened species worthy of the name Homo sapiens empathicus. As for our current species, I call it Homo sapiens anthropocentricus, along with the subspecies Homo sapiens technocraticus!

Whatever the name, humans are now creating a technosphere, as predicted by Pierre Teilhard de Chardin in his book “Man’s Place in Nature.” But he levied no constraints. Constraints are now urgently called for, otherwise the biosphere will be destroyed. No amount of artificial intelligence -- with its evolving weapons of defense, offense, public manipulation and control -- or of climatic bioengineering and genetic engineering will secure our future on planet Earth and the well-being of the generations that survive.

All religious traditions, along with secular society, can promote the hallowing covenant of loving-kindness toward all sentient beings. The equalitarian ethic of loving-kindness will help us cause less harm and collateral damage to all species, including our own. In a state of healthy biodiversity, we are more secure, and pests and pestilence better contained.

This approach is an evolutionary step out of anthropocentrism into ecocentrism and the empathosphere: our sentient connectivity with a living planet and its interdependent life community. Microorganisms, fungi, and animals from insects to elephants all define, sustain, inform and reflect our humanity. Our evolution is at a critical point, touching all our lives and determining how we choose to live, vote and die.

For documentation about the empathosphere, go to drfoxonehealth.com/post/the-empathosphere-animal-prescience-and-remote-sensing. My book of poetry, “For All Our Relations: Visions and Vexations of a Veterinarian,” which many readers will enjoy, is available to order here: austinmacauleyusa.com/book/for-all-our-relations.

(Send all mail to animaldocfox@gmail.com or to Dr. Michael Fox in care of Andrews McMeel Syndication, 1130 Walnut St., Kansas City, MO 64106. The volume of mail received prohibits personal replies, but questions and comments of general interest will be discussed in future columns.

Visit Dr. Fox’s website at DrFoxOneHealth.com.)