No calf serum in Covaxin, says Bharat Biotech

Bharat Biotech, the manufacturer of Covaxin, on Wednesday said its vaccine does not contain calf serum, after after an RTI response posted on Twitter by Congress spokesperson said that the jab uses bovine serum.

According to the company, “Newborn calf serum is used in manufacturing of viral vaccines. It’s used for cells’ growth, but neither used in growth of SARS CoV2 virus nor in final formulation... Covaxin is highly purified to contain only inactivated virus components by removing other impurities.”

Bovine serum is widely used in the manufacture of vaccines globally for several decades, it said. The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare too clarified that Covaxin does not contain newborn calf serum.