Bharat Biotech's Covaxin gets WHO okay for emergency use

The technical committee of World Health Organization (WHO) has reportedly granted Emergency Use Listing (EUL) to made in India Covid-19 vaccine Covaxin. The committee had on October 26 sought additional clarifications from Covaxin manufacturer Bharat Biotech. Bharat Biotech's Covaxin and AstraZeneca and Oxford University's Covishield are the two widely used vaccines in India.

According to sources, TAG had sought "gender wise" immunogenicity data on adults aged 60 plus from the company.

Bharat Biotech
Hyderabad-based Bharat Biotech, which has developed Covaxin, submitted EOI (Expression of Interest) to the WHO on April 19 for the vaccine's Emergency Use Listing (EUL). Covaxin, demonstrated 77.8 per cent efficacy in its Phase 3 clinical trial.

Major contention
Bharat Biotech chairman and managing director Krishna Ella, contended that the platform used to develop the inactivated virus vaccine was a well-established one, unlike the new technology of mRNA vaccines.

Countries which have given approval to Covaxin
Guyana, Iran, Mauritius, Oman, Sri Lanka, Estonia, Greece, Mexico, Nepal, Paraguay, Philippines, Zimbabwe, Australia

Vaccines approved so far
WHO has so far approved Covid-19 vaccines of Pfizer-BioNTech, AstraZeneca-SK Bio/Serum Institute of India, Johnson & Johnson-Janssen, Moderna, and Sinopharm for emergency use.

What is TAG?
Technical Advisory Group is an independent advisory group that provides recommendations to the WHO on whether a Covid 19 vaccine can be listed for emergency use under the EUL procedure.