WHO approves Hyd based Bharat Biotech's Covaxin for Emergency Use Listing

On October 26, World Health Organisation (WHO) had sought "additional clarifications" from Hyderabad-based Bharat Biotech on `Covaxin' before recommending the vaccine for Emergency Use Listing (EUL).

Bharat Biotech submitted the data to the technical advisory group which met on November 3 for a final risk-benefit assessment.

The Technical Advisory Group for Emergency Use Listing (TAG-EUL) is an independent advisory group that provides recommendations to WHO on whether a Covid 19 vaccine can be listed for emergency use under the EUL procedure.

Before October 26 also, the WHO had said it is expecting one additional piece of information from Bharat Biotech regarding Covaxin. The WHO said there needs to be a thorough evaluation to ensure vaccines are safe and "cannot cut corners" before it is recommended for emergency use.

Bharat Biotech has been submitting data to WHO on a rolling basis. It submitted additional information at the UN health body's request on September 27.

Covaxin, India's first indigenous COVID-19 vaccine, has been developed by Hyderabad-based Bharat Biotech in collaboration with the Indian Council of Medical Research.

Covaxin has demonstrated 77.8 percent effectiveness against symptomatic COVID-19 and 65.2 percent protection against the new Delta variant. In June, the company said it concluded the final analysis of Covaxin efficacy from Phase 3.

Bharat Biotech's Covaxin and AstraZeneca and Oxford University's Covishield are the two widely used vaccines in India.

The 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.