‘Covaxin is manufactured after slaughtering calves,’ the latest antics of Congress to stall the vaccination drive

After calling it a BJP vaccine and falsely claiming that inoculating can cause impotency, the opposition of the country has come up with another incongruous reason to fuel vaccine hesitancy across the country. Congress leader and National Coordinator of its IT cell, Gaurav Pandhi on Tuesday took to Twitter to post an RTI response, claiming that the Modi Government admitted that Bharat Biotech’s manufactured Covaxin consists of newborn calf serum.

“In an RTI response, the Modi Govt has admitted that COVAXIN consists Newborn Calf Serum ..which 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,” tweeted the Congress leader.

https://twitter.com/GauravPandhi/status/1404837680874070023

However, what the Congress leader did not comprehend or bothered to research was the fact that almost all vaccines are developed using this particular method. Animals, or in this case, the calves are not killed to derive blood serum for the vaccine. Either the blood is taken from an alive calf (usually the case) or imported from slaughterhouses from outside the country. Moreover, no amount of calf/cow is actually in the vaccine, it is only needed to produce it.

Such was the idiocy of Gaurav’s sensationalist claims that the government had to step in and release a myth buster report, debunking the fallacious claims of a desperate, publicity-hungry Rahul Gandhi stooge.

Read More: Misinformation campaign by media and opposition has led to vaccine hesitancy and they must be criminally prosecuted

“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. This technique has been used for decades in Polio, Rabies, and Influenza vaccines,” read the government’s reply.

“These Vero cells, after the growth, are washed with water, with chemicals (also technically known as buffer), many times to make it free from the newborn calf serum. Thereafter, these Vero cells are infected with the corona virus 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,” the statement said.

“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 government added.

Read More: Anti-Vaccine campaign reaches its peak in Meerut as Muslim dominated areas refuse vaccines fearing ‘impotency’

It is preposterous that the hatred for Prime Minister Narendra Modi has made opposition so naïve and blind that it has mixed up anti-Modi rhetoric with anti-India rhetoric. These vaccines are saving lives and yet Congress, in a frantic attempt to target the government, is using the vaccine and half-cooked facts to sell its story.

The population on the internet might have the resources to read and educate themselves about the lies of Congress regarding the vaccine. However, those living in the rural areas and tier-3, 4 cities might take Gaurav’s statements at face value and opt out of taking the vaccine and further fuel vaccine hesitancy amongst their family members and neighbourhood. Imagine the disservice Congress has done with a single tweet.

Also, it is pertinent to note that Congress exclusively took the name of ‘Covaxin’ in its tweet. The other ‘foreign’ vaccines are manufactured more or less in the same way but enrolled on the payroll of lobbyist groups of American vaccines — the grand old party is not missing out on an opportunity to disparage an indigenously developed vaccine. Congress might not be in power but it continues to have the blood of the innocent public on its hands.