India's Covaxin Finally Gets Emergency Use Approval By World Health Organization

India-made Covaxin is now approved by the World Health Organization after the health agency's advisory body green-lit the vaccine for emergency use listing on Wednesday.

Agencies

Covaxin was made by India-based Bharat Biotech and was approved for emergency use listing by the WHO's technical advisory team on Wednesday. Now, Covaxin is officially approved for emergency use for all aged 18 and above.

For months, India's Bharat Biotech had been seeking approval for its Covid-19 vaccine "Covaxin" by the World Health Organization. Created in Hyderabad, Telangana, the vaccine was developed jointly by Bharat Biotech and the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR).

Covaxin was supposed to receive emergency listing in October, but faced a delay after the WHO's technical advisory group sought more details about Covaxin's final risk assessment. On Wednesday, the group met to decide the fate of Covaxin, after which it was officially recommended for emergency use listing.

An independent advisory body, the technical advisory group gives suggestions to WHO about vaccines that should be approved for emergency listing. Earlier, the body met on October 26 to discuss the future of Covaxin, after which they decided that they required more information.

Agencies

They met again on November 3, when the nod was given to Covaxin after reviewing more data. Now, under WHO's emergency use listing (EUL) procedure, Covaxin may be recommended for emergency use among adults.

Any vaccine with efficacy 50 per cent or above is deemed effective enough to prevent serious illness among its recipients. Covaxin has an efficacy of 77.8 per cent, according to Bharat Biotech. In terms of the more infectious Delta variant, Covaxin provides 65.2 per cent protection, Bharat Biotech ascertained after Phase 3 trials of the vaccine.

So far, WHO has given approval to the following Covid-19 vaccines for emergency use, with Covaxin the newest entry into its coterie - Pfizer-BioNTech, AstraZeneca/Covishield, Janssen by Johnson & Johnson, Moderna, and Sinopharm.

This approval means that Covaxin has unofficially received approval from the World Health Organization, more details about which will be revealed by the agency in the coming days.

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