Samajwadi Party leader says COVID vaccine can cause impotency

Samajwadi Party (SP) leader Ashutosh Sinha claimed that COVID vaccine might make a person impotent. Union Health Ministry is carrying out pan-India COVID-19 vaccine dry run.

Mirzapur (Uttar Pradesh): Samajwadi Party (SP) leader Ashutosh Sinha on Saturday claimed that people fear that COVID-19 vaccine can make them impotent. Sinha also backed party chief Akhilesh Yadav after the latter had said that he would not get vaccinated against COVID-19.

"If honourable Akhilesh Yadav has said this, then there will be something serious. We do not believe in the machinery of the government. He has said this based on facts. If he is not vaccinating himself, then I think COVID-19 vaccine might contain something, which can cause harm. Tomorrow, people will say the vaccine was given to kill/decrease the population. You can even become impotent, anything can happen," Sinha, SP Mirzapur MLC said.

"And If Akhilesh Yadav is saying this, then I think no one should get vaccinated in the state," he added.

Earlier in the day, Yadav had said that he will not get vaccinated against coronavirus for now as the "BJP government cannot be trusted".

"I will not take the COVID-19 vaccine at this moment. That too given by Bharatiya Janata Party. How can I trust BJP's vaccine, no chance? When our government will be formed, everyone will get a free vaccine. We cannot take the BJP vaccine," said Akhilesh during a press conference in Lucknow.

"The inoculation programme under the BJP-led regime could not be trusted," he added.

Yadav's response comes after Dr Shekhar Mande, Director General of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) said the COVID-19 vaccine is safe and would not have adverse effects and urged people not to hesitate to take it.

Union Health Ministry is carrying out pan-India COVID-19 vaccine dry run.

According to the Union Health Ministry, the objective of the dry run is to "assess operational feasibility in the use of COVID Vaccine Intelligence Network (Co-WIN) application in a field environment, to test the linkages between planning and implementation and to identify the challenges and guide the way forward prior to actual implementation".

(ANI)