Electoral Bond: Misleading Claim About Govt Not Approving Other Vaccines After Receiving Funds From Serum Institute

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False claim about government not approving other vaccines other than Covishield goes viral.
Serum Institute of India donated Rs 50 crore to the BJP

Complying with the order and adhering to the deadline set by the court, the State of India (SBI) released the data of electoral bonds. The Election Commission has made the date public on its website. After SBI released the date, it was found that Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Indian National Congress (INC), and Trinamool Congress (TMC) have benefited the most from electoral bonds and have received the highest amount of money. After the date was made public, the claim of Serum Institute of India donating Rs 50 crore to BJP is going viral on X platform (formerly Twitter). Many users have shared this claim alleging that this is the reason why only Serum Institute vaccines were allowed in India and no other vaccines were allowed.

Fake news peddler and Congress supporter, Roshan Rai (archived link) sharing the screenshot of the donation wrote, “SHOCKING EXPOSÊ SERUM INSTITUTE OF INDIA Donated 50 Crore Rupees to the BJP. Is that the reason why no other vaccine was allowed in India?”

INC member, Avinash Kabde (archived link), wrote, “Serum Institute of India donated Rs 50 crore to BJP. Is this the reason why Modi ji did not allow any other vaccine in India and promoted vaccines like his own?”

AICC member Pankhuri Pathak (archived link), wrote, “Another big news has come out. #Covishield Manufacturing company Serum Institute of India had given Rs 50 crore to BJP through confidential bond. It is possible that more donations may have been made before or after this, information about the same is not yet public. It may be known that other vaccines were not approved in India…”

All India Congress Committee (AICC) member of Assam, Pradyut Bhuyan (archived link), wrote, “BIG EXPOSE: SERUM INSTITUTE OF INDIA donated 52 Crore Rupees in a single day to the BJP as electoral bonds. Now you can understand why no other vaccine was allowed in India.”

Manish Kumar Advocate (archived link), wrote, “Another big news has come out. #Covishield manufacturing company Serum Institute of India had given Rs 50 crore to BJP through confidential bond! It is possible that more donations may have been made before or after this, information about the same is not yet public. It may be known that other vaccines were not approved in India…”

User Pratik Patel (archived link), claimed, “The truth about ELECTORAL BOND has been revealed. When the country was going through a serious epidemic, our sir was making a deal. Serum Institute was given monopoly to make vaccine by taking only Rs 52 crores..! Modi sons of Modi family, do you have anything to say?”

User Miss. H (archived link), wrote, “SERUM INSTITUTE OF INDIA Donated 50 Crore to BJP as electoral bonds That is the reason why no other vaccine other than COVISHIELD was allowed in India.”

Also Read: Electoral Bond: BJP receive donations from Pakistan? ‘Hub Power’ company buying electoral bonds is not Pakistani

Fact Check

In our fact checking research, we found that donations made through electoral bonds are completely anonymous. So the question arises that how did it come to light from the electoral bonds that Serum Institute of India donates Rs 50 crore to BJP? Apart from this, the name of Serum Institute of India is not there in the electoral bond issued by the Election Commission on its website. This indicates that the allegations made are completely baseless.

Let us first look at the allegation against the Modi government for not allowing the manufacturing of other vaccines. According to information available on the Central Drugs Standard Control Organization (CDSCO), several vaccines Covid vaccines were approved by the Indian govt, including Covishield, Covaxin, Sputnik, Janssen, ZyCoV-D, Corbevax, Covovax, BBV154 and others were approved by the government for manufacturing and distribution in the country.

Covid 19 vaccines approved to manufacture in India.
Source: CDSCO
Covid 19 vaccines approved to manufacture in India.
Source: CDSCO

Moreover, due to some falling out negotiations the Pfizer vaccine was not made available in India. The company was said to have sought legal immunity from any harm caused by the vaccines. Moreover, the mRNA vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna were very expensive.

Furthermore, the screenshot that is going viral, which shows the Serum Institute of India making donation is taken from a Reuters report, “Obscure trust links India’s top businesses with Modi’s election war chest” which is based on the electoral trust and talks about donations made through the medium and not about electoral bonds.

Electoral trust and electoral bond are same but two different ways of donating money to political parties. Electoral Trust was brought by Congress in 2013, in which any company wishing to donate to political parties will have to give money to the trust. Then the trust will collect the money and distribute it to political parties. The trust has to ensure that it gives at least 95% of the money collected by it to political parties in the same financial year. Apart from this, a record will also have to be kept as to who donated how much money.

At the same time, electoral bonds were brought by BJP, in which people can donate without revealing their identity. To donate through electoral bonds, one has to buy the bonds from certain banks and then give them to political parties. Unlike electoral trusts, donations are completely anonymous.

Now, coming to the claim that Serum Institute of India donated Rs 50 crore through electoral bonds, Reuters report shows that the donation of Rs 50 crore was made in 2022 through electoral trust. The Trust report shows that Serum donated ₹50 crore to Prudent in August 2022.

Serum Institute of India donated RS 50 crore to BJP in 2022 through electoral trust.
Source: Reuters

The Reuters report said Prudent Electoral Trust received significant amounts of contributions from corporate and the trust in turn donated to political parties, with the majority going to BJP. According to Reuters analysis, BJP received 74.8% of contributions from Prudent, while the rest went to other parties. Donations from the Serum Institute and GMR Group, DLF Ltd (DLF.NS) and Essar Group companies went to the BJP soon after Prudent received them.

The facts mentioned above makes it evident that the allegation about government not approving other vaccines in India after receiving the donation from the Serum Institute of India is a fallacy as the donation was made two years after the launch of Covishield, i.e. in 2022. By 2022, when the Serum Institute of India donated Rs 50 crore to the electoral trust, everyone eligible for the vaccine had already received both doses.

ClaimOnly vaccines from Serum Institute of India was allowed, other vaccines were not approved in India
Claimed byRoshan Rai, Avinash Kabde, Pankhuri Pathak, Pradyut Bhuyan, Manish Advocate and others
Fact CheckMisleading

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