WHO To Decide On Emergency Use Listing Of Covaxin In 4-6 Weeks

New Delhi: The World Health Organization (WHO) is likely to decide on including Bharat Biotech’s COVID-19 vaccine Covaxin in the emergency use list (EUL) within four to six weeks.

WHO Chief Scientist Soumya Swaminathan said this at a webinar organised by the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) on Friday.

According to WHO guidelines, EUL is a procedure to streamline the process by which new or unlicensed products can be used during public health emergencies.

Swaminathan said the WHO is reviewing Covaxin as its manufacturer Bharat Biotech is now uploading its entire data on the health body’s portal.

“There is a process to be followed for EUL and pre-qualification of vaccines under which a company has to complete phase 3 trials and submit the whole data to the regulatory department of WHO which is examined by an expert advisory group,” she was quoted as saying by news agency PTI.

“The completeness of the data, which includes safety and efficacy and also the manufacturing quality, standard is provided. So, I expect that Bharat Biotech has already submitted data and in four to six weeks there will be a decision on its inclusion,” she added.

At present, the WHO has approved vaccines by Pfizer/BioNTech, Astrazeneca-SK Bio/Serum Institute of India, AstraZeneca EU, Janssen, Moderna and Sinopharm for emergency use.