WHO finally approves Covaccine

The World Health Organization has approved the Kovid-19 vaccine made in India for emergency use. The technical committee of the WHO met on Wednesday on the issue of including Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin in the emergency use list, in which this decision was taken. Earlier, this committee has twice sought clarification from Bharat Biotech, the company that makes the vaccine. Last week, the World Health Organization’s Technical Advisory Group had sought “additional clarification” to conduct a final “benefit-risk assessment” for inclusion of India’s indigenous anti-Covid vaccine ‘Covaccine’ in the list of emergency use. The Technical Advisory Group met on November 3 for the final evaluation after Bharat Biotech made it available. The decision of the meeting was in favor of the vaccine.

Including Covaccine, 7 vaccines have been approved by WHO so far. These include Pfizer/BioNtech’s Comirneti, AstraZeneca’s Covishield, Johnson & Johnson’s Vaccine, Moderna’s mRNA-1273, Sinopharm’s BBIBP-CorV and Sinovac’s CoronaVac.

By the way, even before the approval of WHO, millions of people in India have been given dose of Covaxin and it is considered safe and effective. Several countries have also approved Covaxin to ease international travel and allow travelers to enter their countries. These countries include Guyana, Iran, Mauritius, Mexico, Nepal, Paraguay, Philippines, Zimbabwe, Australia, Oman, Sri Lanka, Estonia and Greece.