Calf blood in covaccine? Health Ministry shows the facts [TKB-Health]

Various types of posts are going viral on social media regarding Bharat Biotech’s covaccine. It is being claimed in these posts that cow’s calf serum (part of clotted blood) has been used in the vaccine. However, the Health Ministry has rejected any such claims. The government says that facts have been tampered with in these posts and they have been presented in a wrong way.

The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has clarified that Bharat Biotech’s Covaccine does not contain newborn calf serum. The company has also said that the serum is used in the process of making the vaccine, but after it is fully prepared, this serum does not remain in the vaccine.

In its statement, the ministry said that facts have been distorted and misrepresented in some social media posts. It has been claimed in these posts that the indigenous developed Covaccine contains the serum of the newborn calf.

Newborn calf serum is only used to prepare and multiply Vero cells, the statement said. It states that bovine and other animal serums come under the list of ideal ingredients and are used all over the world for Vero cell growth. Let us tell you that Vero cells are used in cell culture. Under this, cells are developed in a special way, different in a natural way, under a special condition.

Vero cells are used to make living cells that help in the production of the vaccine. This technology has been used for decades to make vaccines for polio, rabies and influenza.

Vero cells are washed with water and chemicals. It is also technically known as buffer. These cells are washed several times to remove the calf serum. The Health Ministry said that these Vero cells are then infected with the coronavirus for viral growth.

The ministry said that Vero cells are completely destroyed in the process of viral growth. After this, the virus developed from the cells is also killed. After deactivation, it is purified. Then this inactivated virus is used in the final stage of making the vaccine. Calf serum is not used in the manufacture of this final vaccine.

“Therefore, the final vaccine (Covaccine) does not contain the serum of the newborn calf at all and the serum of the calf is not included in the ingredients of the final vaccine product,” the ministry said in its statement. This clarification from the ministry has come after a tweet made by Congress leader Gaurav Pandhi. In his tweet, the Congress leader had said that the government has accepted that the vaccine contains the serum of a newborn calf.

Covaccine manufacturer Bharat Biotech has also clarified on this. The company told ANI, ‘Serum of newborn calf is used in the manufacture of viral vaccine. It is used for the growth of cells, but it is neither used in the development of the SARS CoV2 virus nor in the final formulation of the vaccine.

The pharma company said, ‘Covaccine is completely purified by removing other impurities and then it is used to contain only inactivated virus components. Bovine serum has been widely used in vaccine manufacturing globally for several decades. In the last 9 months, many studies have also clearly explained the use of newborn calf serum.

What is Calf Serum – This serum is extracted from the blood of a newborn calf. It is usually kept in the slaughterhouse. It is widely used in the use of serum supplements. It has some amount of antibodies, the ability to develop and many different properties used in cell culture.