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Jakarta, CNN Indonesia –
Conservationists estimate 500 million shark will be killed for your liver oil for your availability the Covid-19 vaccine. One of the ingredients used in several Covid-19 vaccine candidates is called squalene.
Squalene is an adjuvant in the medical world. This ingredient increases the effectiveness of the vaccine by creating a stronger immune response. The British pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline currently uses squalene in the flu vaccine.
The company says it will produce 1 billion doses of this adjuvant for potential use in a vaccine against the Covid-19 virus by May 2021. It takes about 3,000 sharks to extract one ton of squalene.
Shark Allies, a group based in California, said that around 250,000 sharks would die if the world’s population were to receive a dose of the Covid-19 vaccine containing shark liver oil.
If two doses of the vaccine were needed in the world’s population, the researchers said this would increase to half a million.
Synthetic shark ingredients
To avoid the threat to shark populations, scientists are testing alternatives to squalene. An alternative to a synthetic version made from fermented sugar cane.
Shark Allies believes that collecting animal material is never sustainable and can disrupt the ecosystem.
“Collecting something from wild animals will never be sustainable, especially if it is a top predator that does not reproduce in large numbers,” said Stefanie Brendl, founder and CEO of Shark Allies.
Not to mention, it is not known how long the pandemic will end. This will undoubtedly lead to more and more sharks being killed for vaccine development.
“It is so unknown how big and how long this pandemic will last, then how many versions we have to go through, that if we continue to use sharks, the number of sharks that are caught for this product could be very high, year after year,” he added. Brendl said.
In a report in the Daily Mail, conservation experts suspect that around three million sharks are killed each year by squalene. It is worth remembering that squalene is also used in cosmetics and motor oils.
In a Sky News report, there is concern that a sudden increase in demand for liver oil could threaten the population and more and more shark species are in danger of extinction.
(jnp / DAL)
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