Will WHO Finally Approve Covaxin Today?

New Delhi: The fate of India’s indigenously-made vaccine against COVID-19 Covaxin, for Emergency Use Listing (EUL), will be decided on Tuesday.

World Health Organisation (WHO) Chief Scientist Soumya Swaminathan had said in a tweet earlier that the technical advisory group at the organisation will meet on October 26 to consider the much-coveted emergency use listing for Covaxin being manufactured by Bharat Biotech.

Last week, the global health organisation had said in a tweet that it is expecting one additional piece of information from Bharat Biotech regarding Covaxin.

We are aware that many people are waiting for WHO’s recommendation for Covaxin to be included in the #COVID19 Emergency Use Listing, but we cannot cut corners – before recommending a product for emergency use, we must evaluate it thoroughly to make sure it is safe and effective, WHO had said.

WHO Health Emergencies Programme Executive Director Dr Mike Ryan was quoted as saying, “We have to be absolutely sure and it’s really important that we gather all of the necessary information not only on the vaccine itself but on the manufacturing processes and all of that, because we’re recommending to the world that this vaccine is safe, effective and it’s been produced using the highest quality standards.”

How does the WHO technical advisory group work?

• Vaccine manufacturers have to request and respond and say that they want their vaccines to be put for EUL and then provide documentation on the whole process, the efficacy studies and the manufacturing process.
• Sometimes that requires visits to look at and examine the manufacturing practices and all of that has to come together into a dossier that’s presented within this advisory group mechanism, and then it’s from there that WHO can make a recommendation.