--- title: "Vegan Anti-Vaxxer Dies of COVID After Opposing Vaccine Animal Testing" description: "A British anti-vaxxer has died of COVID-19 after opposing the vaccine on animal rights grounds — but there may be more to this story than meets the eye. " date: "2021-11-29" modified: "2021-11-29" authors: - name: "Noor Al-Sibai" job_title: "Senior Staff Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/nooralsibai" url: "https://futurism.com/vegan-anti-vaxxer-dies-of-covid-after-opposing-vaccine-animal-testing" categories: - "Future Society" tags: - "anti-vaxxers" - "covid-19" - "covid-19 vaccine" --- # Vegan Anti-Vaxxer Dies of COVID After Opposing Vaccine Animal Testing ![A British anti-vaxxer has died of COVID-19 after opposing the vaccine on animal rights grounds — but there may be more to this story than meets the eye. ]() *\Image: GoFundMe\* A British anti-vaxxer has died of COVID-19 after opposing the vaccine on animal rights grounds — but there may be more to the story than meets the eye. First reported by [the *Birmingham Mail*]() and soon after [aggregated by the infamous *Daily Mail*]() tabloid, 54-year-old Glynn Steel died of COVID in November after getting what at first seemed like a common cold. Though his wife was reportedly double-vaccinated, Steel refused to get the jab on principle because he'd heard that the companies producing these life-saving inoculations tested them on animals. He was right on that count — Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna, and Johnson & Johnson [all tested their vaccines on animals](), which is required by law in the UK and a standard practice when studying pharmaceutical efficacy. Shortly after the *Daily Mail* published their write-up, the *Daily Star*, another British tabloid, [took it for a whirl](). Next was [the *Manchester Evening News*](), then a few outlets in Australia and New Zealand, and finally, the [*International Business Times*]() (a site that, you might recall, was once [owned by a Korean gun cult]()). Most of the aggregated articles about Steel's death follow the same formula as the rest of the content in the growing [anti-vaxxer death cottage industry](): a description of his reasoning for refusing to get vaccinated, a short paragraph about the trajectory of his illness, and, of course, his deathbed admission that he wished he'd gotten the jab after all. While there's no doubt that this British animal lover's refusal to get vaccinated was both ill-informed and the ultimate cause of his death, the minor feeding frenzy related to the relatively-unique reason for his anti-vax stance represents both a fundamental misunderstanding of the breadth of anti-vaxxer beliefs and, more importantly, demonstrates how macabre and cruel reporting on anti-vax deaths has become. Anti-vaxxers aren't just crazed right-wingers — they [exist in every subculture]() and their core mistrust in the medical industry transcends political party. While most of us agree that they are [the main thing keeping COVID alive](), the effort to win the hearts and minds of these self-described "vaccine skeptics" hasn't made much progress. There's no easy solution, but one thing is for sure: gleefully dancing on the graves of the people who die from COVID after refusing to get vaccinated *definitely* isn't convincing anyone to get the shot. **Read more:** [What do all these stories of vaccine denial deaths do to our sense of empathy?]() \[*Washington Post*\] ## Author At Futurism, I've often been drawn to unpacking the narratives that underlie technological, scientific and medical progress, with a special interest in areas of conflict and ambiguity that end up setting agendas and steering the fates of both elites and the hoi polloi. I'm a committed generalist, but I often find myself returning to work involving NASA and the private space sector, the effects of AI on media and society, and the mechanics of the pharmaceutical industry, with a specific focus on the spread of GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy. Prior to Futurism, I worked for publications ranging from Media Matters and Truthdig to Raw Story and Bustle. I'm also the author of "Myspace Scene Queens," a 2024 title in Instar Books' acclaimed "Remember the Internet" series. My work at Futurism has been cited by outlets including the New Yorker, Slate, Nieman Lab, the Verge, the MIT Technology Review, the Sunday Times, and the Daily Beast. I grew up in North Carolina, attended the University of North Carolina at Asheville, and now live in Brooklyn, New York. In my free time, I'm an avid reader and music fan; you can probably find me at a local poetry reading, concert, underground rave, or DJ set. I'm the proud parent of an ineffable orange cat named Mee-Mow. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()