Hyderabad: Bharat Biotech on Wednesday said that though newborn calf serum is used in manufacturing of viral vaccines, it is not used in the final formulation of Covaxin. The statement came after an RTI query on the contents of Covaxin led to a Congress leader levelling allegations of cow slaughter
“Newborn calf serum is used in the manufacturing of viral vaccines. It is used for the growth of cells, but neither used in growth of SARS-CoV-2 virus nor the final formulation. Covaxin is highly purified to contain only the inactivated virus components by removing all other impurities,” Bharat Biotech said in a statement.
“Bovine serum is widely used in the manufacture of vaccines globally for several decades. The usage of newborn calf serum was transparently documented in various publications since the last nine months,” the company added.
