Covishield Vaccine Row: PM Modi's image no more on your vaccination certificate? Here's why

The recent admission by vaccine maker AstraZeneca in a UK court, reigniting discussions about Covishield's potential side effect of Thrombosis with Thrombocytopenia Syndrome (TTS), has prompted many in India to review their vaccination certificates.

On blogging platform X (formerly Twitter), some users flagged the absence of PM Modi's photograph on the Covid-19 vaccination certificates.

"Modi ji no more visible on COVID Vaccine certificates. Just downloaded to check – yes, his pic is gone," a user named Sandeep Manudhane wrote.



Others speculated that this change in the vaccination certificate format could be linked to recent concerns over Covishield, which is produced by the Serum Institute of India (SII) under a licensing agreement with AstraZeneca.

Responding to queries about the absence of Modi's photo on the certificates, officials from the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare informed ThePrint that this alteration was due to the Model Code of Conduct (MCC) enforced during the ongoing Lok Sabha polls.

This is not the first instance of Modi's photo being removed from vaccination certificates. In 2022, his photo was omitted from certificates issued in five states – Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Punjab, Manipur, and Goa – at the directive of the Election Commission of India (ECI) ahead of assembly elections in those states, reported The Print.