Physicians Committee President Neal Barnard, MD, Calls on D.C. Council to Recommend Citizens Shore Up Vaccine Efficacy With Plant-Based Diet

WASHINGTON—The Government of the District of Columbia should update its COVID-19 messaging to recommend that citizens shore up vaccine efficacy with a plant-based diet. That is one of the recommendations Neal Barnard, MD, FACC, president of the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, will make when he testifies before the Council of the District of Columbia Committee on Health today.

In his testimony, Dr. Barnard references the COVID Symptom Study, which included more than half-million participants and found that people eating more fruits, vegetables, and plant-based foods in general had a 41% lower risk of severe COVID-19. Similarly, a recent study of health care workers in six countries revealed that those following largely plant-based diets had 73% lower odds of developing moderate-to-severe COVID-19. 

Dr. Barnard recently co-authored “Shoring Up Vaccine Efficacy,” a commentary in The American Journal of Medicine, where he made similar recommendations. He is also a board member of the Medical Society of the District of Columbia and adjunct faculty at George Washington University School of Medicine.

Dr. Barnard’s full testimony is below: