MHA tells states to take penal action against those circulating rumours on COVID-19 vaccine

The Centre has asked states to take penal action against those “spreading rumours” about the efficacy of Coronavirus vaccines — Covishield, manufactured by the Serum Institute of India, and Covaxin, developed and manufactured by the Bharat Biotech Limited — currently being administered in India.In a letter sent to all states and union territories last week, Home Secretary Ajay Bhalla has said that states must come out with a mechanism to deal with such misinformation and take penal action under Disaster Management Act and the Indian Penal Code against those spreading rumours about the effectiveness of Covaxin and Covishield vaccines.

“I would like to strongly emphasize that the National Regulatory Authority in the country has found both the vaccines safe and immunogenic. However, it has been reported that unfounded and misleading rumours are circulating, in social and other media, creating doubt about the safety and efficacy of these vaccines. Such kind of rumour mongering, particularity by vested interests, can create unwarranted doubts among people at large, and there is, therefore, a need to check all such kinds of unfounded scare-mongering related to the efficacy and immunogenicity of the vaccines,” Bhalla has said in his letter. 

The government has launched the inoculation drive of COVID-19 vaccination from January 16 onwards across the country. However, there has been a lot of debate about the safety and efficacy of the vaccines both in social and mainstream media. India's COVID-19 tally of active cases fell to 1,84,182 on January 25. With 12,921 infections reported in a day, India's COVID-19 caseload rose to 1,06,68,356, while the recoveries surged to 1,03,30,084, the Union health ministry said on Wednesday. Till Jan 24, over 1.6 million healthcare workers across India were inoculated, while govt is planning to inoculate over 30 crore high-risk groups, including healthcare and frontline workers, the elderly, and those with comorbidities by July 2021.