Ever since India started its vaccination drive, there have been various obstacles while misinformation and hesitancy remain significant contributors. Adding to the pile is a new claim that Covaxin, developed by Bharat Biotech, consists of calf serum. This claim has started an uproar on social media, but the government is getting ahead of it with a detailed clarification.
The claim
Several social media posts shared an RTI response to make claims that Covaxin contains "newborn calf serum." As per the claims, the serum is obtained from less than 20 days young cow calves after slaughtering them. This information has caused an uproar on social media, with netizens questioning the administration of Covaxin to vegetarians and slaughtering of cows, which is banned in many states across the country.
Several netizens have fallen for the claim, some even calling for a boycott of Covaxin. Many have questioned why this information wasn't made public sooner.
Fact check
International Business Times reviewed the viral claim made by many users on Twitter and found it to be lacking in facts. Taking note of the viral claim, which has the potential to cause panic, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) issued a clarification in the matter, saying "facts have been twisted and misrepresented in these posts."
The MoHFW clearly said the Covaxin vaccine does not contain newborn calf serum. In addition, clarifying on the point which was taken out of context, the health ministry said the new board calf serum is used only for the preparation and growth of vero cells.
"Different kinds of bovine and other animal serum are standard enrichment ingredients used globally for vero cell growth. Vero cells are used to establish cell lives which help in the production of vaccines," the statement added.
These vero cells, after the growth, are washed with water and chemicals several times. This process is called buffer and it is done to make the cells free from the newborn calf serum. These cells are then infected with 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. Hence, the final vaccine (COVAXIN) does not contain newborn calf serum at all and the calf serum is not an ingredient of the final vaccine product," the ministry said.
Moreover, no animals, in this case cow calves are not slaughtered to derive blood serum. It is either taken from a live calf, which is usually the case, or in some cases imported from slaughter houses outside of India.
After reviewing the facts, IBTimes has arrived at the conclusion that Covaxin does not contain newborn calf serum and animals are not killed in the process.
