Fact-Check: Is India Going to Launch a 'Cancer Vaccine'?
A viral video shared with the claim shows the CEO of Serum Institute Adar Poonawalla launching the HPV vaccine.
Fact-check: The claim that India has developed a cancer vaccine is misleading and lacks context.
(Photo: The Quint)
A video of the CEO of Serum Institute of India (SII), Adar Poonawalla, addressing the media while talking about a vaccine being created by his company is going viral with a claim that India will launch a "cancer vaccine".
The claim: The video was shared with the claim that read, "India is going to launch cancer vaccine in next few months, that too in a very affordable price range of Rs 200-400(sic)".
An archive of the post can be found here.
(Archives of more such posts from Twitter and Facebook can be found here and here. We also received the claim as a query on our WhatsApp tipline.)
The truth: The claim is misleading as Poonawalla was talking about the launch of India's first home-grown human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine.
HPV is the leading cause of cervical cancer – the second most common type of cancer globally.
While the vaccine may help prevent women from getting cervical cancer because of HPV, it will not cure any other type of cancer not caused due to HPV.
Additionally, the HPV vaccine/cervical cancer vaccine has existed in the world and was first recommended by the US CDC in 2006.
How did we find that out:
The video along with the claim was published on the Facebook page called NewJ English.
We found the video, published on 2 September 2022, where Poonawalla was talking about SII's HPV Vaccine.
According to SII, its HPV vaccine is expected to give a coverage of approximately 90 percent against HPV that's prevalent in the developing world.
The vaccine was launched on Tuesday, 24 January and one can read more about SII's HPV vaccine here.
What is an HPV Vaccine:
As mentioned earlier, HPV is the main cause of cervical cancer in India, which is the second most frequent cancer among women between 15 and 44 years of age.
HPV also causes other forms of cancers, such as cancers of the mouth and the oropharynx, which is the back part of your throat, anus and even the penis.
The HPV vaccine prevents HPV infections and, as a result, prevents cervical and other types of cancers caused by the virus.
Vaccines against HPV have existed around the world for over a decade.
Conclusion: The claim that India is developing a vaccine against cancer lacks context and could be misleading to people.
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