New Delhi: Certain media reports have suggested that the approval for Covaxin for the 15-18 age group has been given despite WHO not having accorde
d Emergency Use Listing (EUL) to its use for the age group. The Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has termed such reports as “highly ill-informed, misleading and far from the truth”.
It clarified that guidelines were issued by the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare and that at no place the guidelines mention about EUL by WHO.
The guidelines issued by the ministry on December 27, 2021, for the 15-18 age group state that “for such beneficiaries, option for vaccination would only be available for Covaxin as this is the only vaccine with EUL for the age-group 15-18”.
The EUL was accorded by CDSCO, the national regulator, for Covaxin for 12-18 age group on December 24, 2021, it pointed out. All these details are available on the ministry’s website, it added.