WHO accepts Bharat Biotech's Covaxin for emergency use listing

The World Health Organisation has accepted Bharat Biotech's Covaxin for emergency usage on Wednesday. The health body panel had previously requested for more answers from the Hyderabad-based corporation. The Technical Advisory Group convened on October 26 and requested further information from Bharat Biotech. Covaxin has shown 77.8 percent efficacy against symptomatic Covid-19 and 65.2% protection against the novel Delta variant. The business announced in June that it has completed the final study of Covaxin effectiveness from Phase 3 studies.

Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya hailed it a "victory for Atmanirbhar Bharat" and praised Prime Minister Narendra Modi's "goodwill and dedication."

Also Read | WHO seeks ‘additional clarifications’ from Bharat Biotech to approve Covaxin

Earlier in the day, Bharat Biotech announced in a press release that the Central Drugs Standard Control Organization has approved extending Covaxin's shelf-life to 12 months from the date of manufacture. This shelf-life extension permission was given based on the submission of new stability data to CDSCO.

Covaxin is one of three COVID-19 vaccines now being deployed in the country as part of a huge statewide immunisation campaign. The other two are Covishield from the Serum Institute of India and Sputnik V from Russia. Until date, the World Health Organization has authorised COVID-19 vaccines made by Pfizer-BioNTech, Johnson & Johnson, Moderna, Sinopharm, and Oxford-AstraZeneca for emergency use.

Also Read | Bharat Biotech’s COVID-19 vaccine Covaxin gets shelf life extension to 12 months

Meanwhile, during a meeting on the margins of the G20 conference in Geneva last week, Prime Minister Narendra Modi pushed WHO director Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus to expedite the nod.Mea

• WHO
• Bharat Biotech
• Covaxin approved
• emergency use