Supriya Sule, Lok Sabha Member of Parliament from the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) made false statements regarding vaccine manufacturing and ridiculed the Defence Research and Development Organization (DRDO) on the fourth day of Parliament’s Budget Session on Thursday.

A video of her speaking in the session was shared on Twitter by another NCP MP Priyanka Chaturvedi.

Supriya Sule mocked DRDO, adding that they are now manufacturing masks and sanitizers despite being the leading scientific institution. Sule went on to say that the vaccines are made by the Serum Institute of India, not by the government. She clarified that this is not what is meant by the phrase “Make in India.”

She was, however, factually wrong in all of her comments, as numerous individuals on social media pointed out. Prominent scientist Anand Ranganathan took to Twitter and wrote “Ms. Sule is factually wrong on ALL counts. 1. She mocks DRDO. Fact: DRDO invented novel UV & mist sanitizers 2. She says govt hasn’t made the vaccine. Fact: ICMR has made Covaxin along with BB 3. She says SII has made vaccines. Fact: Oxford, not SII has made Covishield.”

Another Twitter user named Sagar (@sssaaagar) pointed out the achievements of DRDO in a tweet. He wrote, “DRDO made mask, Sanitisers, OOG of Tejas repurposed to O2 plant, 2-DG for fighting Covid, while they made indigenous AIP, HSTDV, Launched slew of missiles, etc. MH state government had 1 job, Convert Haffkines lab into BSL3 for Covaxin prodn. 9 months after approval is still zero.”

It should be remembered that the DRDO has been a benchmark organization for many years. Today, the DRDO is a network of more than 50 laboratories dedicated to the development of defence technologies, life sciences, training, information systems, and agriculture. DRDO has played a major role during the Covid-19 pandemic. DRDO has worked diligently whenever it was necessary, from building a 500-bed specialized Covid facility in Delhi to creating the effective medicine 2-DG for the treatment of coronavirus infection. The DRDO’s Institute of Nuclear Medicine and Allied Sciences (INMAS) in New Delhi collaborated with Hyderabad-based pharma giant Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories to produce 2-deoxy-D-glucose or 2-DG.

References:

opindia.com