Harvard University praised India for its history of vaccine testing in the last two centuries.

An article by a media outlet falsely claimed that a professor from Harvard University praised India for its vaccination testing.

An article by a media outlet falsely claimed that a professor from Harvard University praised India for its vaccination testing. Dainik Bhaskar, a Hindi news website, published an article on May 4, 2021, claiming that Dr. Jessie Bump, a professor at the Harvard School and Public Health of America, praised India for its vaccine research. The article discusses how India has been a testing ground for vaccines in the past two centuries. The piece also talks about how the British used people and cows to test their vaccines. The article and screenshots of it were circulated on social media as well.

According to the Harvard website, Dr. Jessie Bump is a lecturer on Global Health Policy in the Department of Global Health and Population at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. Dr. Bump's work examines the evolution of ideas and institutions that facilitate better societal health performance. He has not praised India for its efforts in vaccinations in the last two centuries. There are no credible or official records of this statement. His most recent peer-reviewed publication was in 2020, titled 'Quantifying the Valuation of Animal Welfare among Americans,' in the Journal of Agricultural and Environmental Ethics.

So far, the Serum Institute of India (SII) is the largest vaccine manufacturer in the world. According to the SII website, they have produced over 1.5 billion vaccine doses for COVID-19, Polio, Diphtheria, Tetanus, Pertussis, Hib, BCG, r-Hepatitis B, Measles, Mumps, and Rubella. Reuters reported in May 2021 that India is said to triple the COVID-19 vaccine production in 2021-22.

The COVID-19 pandemic has given rise to a lot of potentially dangerous misinformation. For reliable advice on COVID-19 including symptoms, prevention and available treatment, please refer to the World Health Organisation or your national healthcare authority.