DEAR DR. FOX: I appreciate your postings about the risks of the COVID-19 mRNA vaccines, and you make it quite clear you are not an anti-vaxxer.

I wanted to share this study with you from one of my contacts here in the U.K.: "Vitamin D status and outcomes for hospitalised older patients with COVID-19" by Vadir Baktash et al., published in the Postgraduate Medical Journal in 2021.

A brief excerpt: “There appears to be an association between increased COVID-19 incidence and mortality and countries with an increased prevalence of vitamin D deficiency. Vitamin D plays an important role in the modulation of the immune system through promotion of anti-inflammatory cytokines and down-regulation of pro-inflammatory T cells. The occurrence of an inflammatory ‘cytokine storm’ during COVID-19 has been associated with poorer outcomes and increased disease severity.”

Also, see this news item from May 2024: "Guernsey cardiologist calls for investigation into COVID-19 vaccine over possible side effects." (Link: itv.com/news/channel/2024-05-10/cardiologist-calls-for-investigation-into-covid-19-vaccine.)

An excerpt from the story above: “In the year of the COVID pandemic but before the vaccine, there were five cases of myocarditis in Guernsey, which is inflammation of the heart. In 2021, the year of the rollout, these figures increased to 25, and in 2022, cases remained higher at 22. However, in 2023, when fewer vaccines were given, the figures dropped to 11.” -- E.P., Wales, U.K.

DEAR E.P.: I appreciate this additional information about these genetically engineered COVID-19 vaccinations and their side-effects, along with more supportive data on the protective benefits of vitamin D. In a future column, I will post more information about this essential vitamin, since many people are deficient.

Magnesium deficiency is also widespread, and can affect mood and social behavior because it is involved in the synthesis of the “bonding” hormone, oxytocin. More people taking magnesium supplements and eating magnesium-rich foods, such as spinach, pumpkin seeds, lima beans and brown rice, could possibly lower the incidences of depression and violence.

People receiving immunosuppressant medications may be more vulnerable to vaccinosis (adverse vaccine reactions).

DEAR DR. FOX: Thank you for voicing the truth with dignity and grace. I am not sure if the intended hearts are reached or if you are preaching to the choir, but you are a light in the darkness. -- B.R., Boynton Beach, Florida

DEAR B.R.: I deeply appreciate your words of support for my attempts to give the facts, backed by sound science and reason, and to address the ethical, spiritual and existential crises we all face in these times.

All religious traditions, along with secular civil society, can promote the hallowing covenant of loving-kindness toward all sentient beings. All grief, despair and vengeance should be transmuted into empathy, healing and creativity.

The equalitarian ethic of loving-kindness will help us cause less harm and collateral damage to other species when dealing with predators and “pests” that can damage crops and spread disease. In healthy biodiversity, we are more secure, and pests and pestilence better contained -- as I document in my 2025 book, “One Health: Veterinary, Ethical and Environmental Perspectives.”

This covenant is an evolutionary step out of anthropocentrism into ecocentrism and the empathosphere. We must embrace our connectivity with our living planet, Gaia, and the interdependent life community of plants, microorganisms, fungi and animals that define, sustain, inform and reflect our humanity. The evident collective insentience at our present stage of evolution, and related political and ideological polarization, is at a critical point, touching all our lives and determining how we chose to live, vote and die in war or peace.

I have given up on using ethical arguments and reason to encourage better care for animals and protection for the wild. After a half-century of advocating for animals and the environment -- via countless books, academic and popular articles, public debates, demonstrations and conferences -- these efforts have made little difference. In fact, conditions are worse, as we all bear witness to the consequences of climate change, loss of biodiversity and extinction of species and Indigenous peoples.

We are only truly free when we trust life, relinquish control and recover our feral spirit of mindful empathy. Homo sapiens, at its current collective state of evolution, is in the chrysalis of anthropocentrism. I therefore think that addressing human health and welfare issues from a spiritual perspective will break through this self-centered worldview for the common good -- which includes the economies and well-being of every nation.

Evolution is revolution -- and it is nonviolent because it involves empathy and compassion-in-action.

(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 DR. FOX: Your post on mRNA vaccines, like Pfizer’s and Moderna’s that saved lives during the COVID-19 pandemic, failed to acknowledge the benefits over the risks. I know you are not against tried-and-true vaccines for people and animals, and while this class of vaccines is new, it holds great promise -- in my opinion as a registered nurse (now retired). -- L.B., Cleveland, Ohio

DEAR L.B.: Vaccinations are of great value in preventing highly communicable diseases such as smallpox, mumps and measles in children, and rabies, distemper and parvovirus in puppies, but the precautionary principle must be applied. In my opinion, companion animals and children alike are being over-vaccinated, and science-based revisions in both sectors must be ongoing.

I wish all health care professionals would spend a little time and read about the adverse reactions to mRNA COVID-19 vaccinations. A good place to start is with the study “Serious adverse events of special interest following mRNA COVID-19 vaccination in randomized trials in adults” by Joseph Fraiman et al., published in Vaccine in 2022.

Some additional concerns raised by researchers include the following:

-- The spike protein of the COVID-19 virus, present in widely used vaccines, can cause harm to different people in different ways. The adverse effects of vaccinations for some people, along with long COVID, cannot be denied.

-- The contamination of these genetically engineered mRNA vaccines has been reported. A plethora of DNA fragments is an issue of concern.

-- Persistent post-vaccination symptoms (sometimes classified as “post-COVID-19 vaccination syndrome,” or PCVS) resemble those of post-acute sequelae of COVID-19 (PASC). Cardiac, vascular and neurological symptoms often emerge shortly after vaccination and persist for months or years, mirroring PASC.

References for all of these issues are provided in my post here: drfoxonehealth.com/post/preventing-pandemics-like-covid-19-and-other-animal-to-human-diseases.

These problems aside, there is growing public distrust and administrative chaos in the U.S., along with a growing anti-science sentiment. We are seeing renewed outbreaks of measles, especially in children, which can be fatal or cause permanent neurological damage and other health problems. Such outbreaks could have been prevented if the anti-vaccination movement had not gained traction in recent years -- led by Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who is now in charge of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. This is unforgivable for all involved.

In June, Kennedy fired and replaced all members of the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices. The new members announced plans to review the CDC’s child and adolescent immunization schedules, an action that leaders in the American Academy of Pediatrics said is an effort to sow distrust in vaccines.

Health care professionals do not universally agree on the risks and benefits of particular vaccinations in any age group. The World Health Organization advises vaccinations for pregnant women, for the high-risk immunocompromised and for the elderly, but Kennedy has stated that pregnant women and healthy children do not need to be vaccinated. Then again, many schools mandate it.

Florida officials recently announced that the state would phase out all mandates for childhood vaccines. The same day, the Democratic governors of Washington state, Oregon and California announced that they have created an alliance to establish their own vaccine recommendations because they believe the Trump administration’s politicization of the CDC is putting Americans’ health at risk.

It is little wonder that members of the public, parents especially, are confused.

Kennedy should resume funding the World Health Organization, reinstate staff at the CDC and leave the vaccination issue to the experts. He should get on with banning azo dyes in breakfast cereals and establishing nutrition education programs in all schools. All public spaces should receive improved ventilation systems, treating incoming air with sanitizing ultraviolet light.

His agency, along with the EPA and the USDA, needs to better regulate pesticide use and act against the gross overuse of glyphosate. And the U.S. must join other countries to stop the manufacture of plastics and the burning of fossil fuels.

As I emphasize in my book “One Health: Veterinary, Ethical and Environmental Perspectives,” many public health authorities are overly reliant on vaccinations but do not simultaneously promote other factors of disease prevention, such as sanitation, nutrition education, food safety, and water and air quality.

(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: The Minnesota Star Tribune recently published a letter from Matthew DeBoer, principal of Annunciation Catholic School in Minneapolis, to Vice President J.D. Vance and his wife. In the letter, DeBoer detailed his reactions to the Aug. 27 mass shooting at his school, in which two students were killed and many were injured. His words are an eloquent call to “build our future filled with hope -- hand in hand, rooted in love, together.”

There is a connecting thread between these all-too-common mass shootings and the actions being taken by President Trump and his administration: the closing of USAID; the defunding and de-staffing of federal agencies and programs that help the needy, and communities at large, in times of emergency; the deployment of masked, armed ICE agents to round up refugees and other immigrants; and the deployment of military forces in a fabricated “war on crime” in select cities. The connecting thread is empathy -- specifically, the lack of it.

From the executive branch down to the next mass shooter, empathy is in shreds. DeBoer’s letter is a call for more empathy, and for more compassion-in-action, from all sectors of government and society. We must empathize with everyone -- even those who commit violence, as well the victims and all who mourn them. Only then will we find solutions in these deeply dystopian times.

For more on empathy, see my post here: humiliationstudies.org/documents/FoxEmpathy2025.pdf

A (NONPOLITICAL) FAT CAT ISSUE

DEAR DR. FOX: My 4-year-old neutered cat, Tommy, has gotten fat, even though I play with him a lot every night. He is very affectionate and active, but the vet says he must lose weight.

Up till now, most of his meals have been Meow Mix and an occasional scoop of canned cat food. The vet suggested giving him IAMS Healthy Weight cat food. What is your opinion? -- B.K., Washington, D.C.

DEAR B.K.: Approximately 60% of cats in the U.S. are estimated to be overweight or obese, according to the Association for Pet Obesity Prevention.

This is what IAMS says is in its Healthy Weight cat kibble: “(The) ingredients start with chicken, followed by ingredients like chicken by-product meal, corn grits, corn protein meal, and ground whole-grain corn. The formula also contains fiber sources like dried plain beet pulp and powdered cellulose, along with essential nutrients, vitamins and minerals, like fructooligosaccharides and taurine, and is preserved with mixed tocopherols and citric acid.”

I question the inclusion of chicken by-product meal in dog and cat foods. I especially question corn products for cats, as corn could be contaminated with the herbicide glyphosate. This could also be a contaminant in beet pulp, disrupting cats’ gut bacterial microbiome.

Instead of this product, I recommend that you transition your cat to a moist canned food, like grain-free Friskies or Wellness. Add a few drops of fish oil or marine algae; cats need omega fatty acids in their diets, and these are lacking in dry kibble. Cat owners who are away from home all day can purchase wet cat food containers that open at timed intervals for their cats while they are away.

This is an important issue that needs wider coverage, so I invited fellow veterinarian Dr. Jean Hofve to comment. She states: “The best way to help a cat like Tommy lose weight is to stop the kibble and feed only wet food. Dry kibble is very dense in calories. It’s like potato chips: soaked with grease, and full of empty carbohydrates that cats rapidly convert to fat. Dry diets lead to weight gain, insulin resistance, GI issues, diabetes, arthritis and many other health problems. Dry food is also dehydrating.

“‘Weight control’ dry foods are no better,” she continues. “Unless portions are strictly limited, cats just eat more of it to get the protein they need. Dry diets can lead to bladder crystals and stones, as well as constipation and other gastrointestinal issues. Canned foods are higher in protein and much lower in carbs. The increased moisture is also much better for their digestive and urinary systems.

“Since Tommy already eats some canned food, this will be a simple transition. Feed as much wet food as he wants, but only in timed meals: 20 to 30 minutes, three times a day (morning, after work/school, and bedtime). He will adjust to the schedule quickly, and the extra weight will come off gradually in a safe and healthy way.”

I agree, and believe that if all kittens were weaned onto a moist canned or fresh-frozen cat food and never fed high-carbohydrate dry kibble, to which many cats become addicted, obesity and many of its related health problems in cats could be prevented.

(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.)