In a statement issued by the Health Ministry, it has said that the serum of newborn calf is used only for the preparation and development of Vero cells.
New Delhi| In its fight against Covid-19, India is not only struggling with vaccine shortage but also with vaccine hesitancy. Several rumours regarding the vaccine have already marred the vaccination drive in rural areas. One such claim that was doing rounds on social media for the past few days was- Bharat Biotech has used the serum of a newborn calf to make Covaxin. The claim was based on the reply by CDSCO to RTI filed by Vikas Patni. The claim led to massive controversy with the Congress party questioning the vaccine process. However, the Ministry of Health and Bharat Biotech has issued a statement clarifying the controversy.
The issue caught steam with the tweet of Congress’s National Coordinator Gaurav Pandhi. He shared the documents found in the RTI reply. Pandhi said that the Narendra Modi government has accepted that Bharat Biotech’s vaccine contains newborn calf’s serum. “This is a portion of clotted blood obtained from less than 20 days young cow-calves, after slaughtering them. THIS IS HEINOUS! This information should have been made public before,” he said.
https://twitter.com/GauravPandhi/status/1404837680874070023
After the tweet led to furore and questions were raised on the process adopted for making the vaccine, BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra responded to the charge saying that Congress is misleading the people.
Health Ministry Clarifies
The Central Government has rejected this claim, saying that the facts, in this case, have been distorted and wrongly placed. In a statement issued by the Health Ministry, it has said that the serum of newborn calf is used only for the preparation and development of Vero cells. “Newborn Calf Serum is used only for preparation/ growth of Vero cells. Different kinds of bovine and other animal serum are standard enrichment ingredient used globally for Vero cell growth. Vero cells are used to establish cell lives which help in the production of vaccines. This technique has been used for decades in Polio, Rabies, and Influenza vaccines,” the statement read.
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The ministry said that the Viro cells after being developed are often washed with water and chemicals. This process is also called a buffer. These Vero cells are then infected with the coronavirus for viral growth.
“The Vero cells are completely destroyed in the process of viral growth. Thereafter this grown virus is also killed (inactivated) and purified. This killed virus is then used to make the final vaccine, and in the final vaccine formulation, no calf serum is used,” according to the statement.
Covaxin-Maker Responds To Controversy
Bharat Biotech also issued a clarification on the matter stating, “Newborn calf serum is used in the manufacturing of viral vaccines. It is used for the growth of cells, but neither used in the growth of the SARS CoV2 virus nor in the final formulation. COVAXIN®️ is highly purified to contain only the inactivated virus components by removing all other impurities.”
Are Claves Killed To Obtain The Serum?
In his tweet, Congress’ National Co-ordinator Gaurav Pandhi claimed that the serum is obtained by cow-calves as young as 20 days after slaughtering them. The claim, is , however, false. Earlier pregnant cows were killed for this. But now this process has changed. Now blood serum of newborn calves is taken to save animals from cruelty. These are usually removed within 3 to 10 days after birth.
Cow slaughter is banned in India. Because of this, most of the blood serum is imported from laboratories doing biological research. According to the Ministry of Commerce, India imported serum worth Rs 2 crore in 2019-20. This year, this figure may increase significantly, because only between April and June, that is, in about three months, serum worth Rs 1.5 crore has been imported.
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