WHO is expected to give nod for Bharat Biotech's Covaxin this week : Reports

According to the news agency ANI, sources have revealed that World Health Organisation (WHO) is expected to give an emergency nod to Bharat Biotech's COVID-19 vaccine, Covaxin, this week.

Now, with the emergency approval from the WHO, it will ease the international travel for people who have received this vaccine. It will also permit Bharat Biotech to export Covaxin.

According to WHO guidelines, Emergency Use Listing (EUL) is a procedure to streamline the process during public health emergencies by which new or unlicensed products can be used.

Earlier, it was reported that the Bharat Biotech vaccine would get WHOS's emergency approval by mid-September. Since that time, the assessment of the vaccine was at an advanced stage.

The vaccine has currently completed its final assessment of Covaxin efficiency.

Before, Dr. Swaminathan, while addressing the media, stated that the overall efficacy of the vaccine is quite high. However, the vaccine efficacy against the "delta variant is low but it is still quite good.”

Held a meeting with Dr Soumya Swaminathan, Chief Scientist of @WHO

We had a productive discussion on WHO’s approval of @BharatBiotech’s COVAXIN.@DoctorSoumya also appreciated India’s efforts for the containment of #COVID19 pic.twitter.com/5gnAOQkeT3

— Mansukh Mandaviya (@mansukhmandviya) August 12, 2021

He had also added that the safety profile of the vaccine did meet the WHO benchmark.

As per an analytical report, the COVID-19 vaccination has 77.8 percent efficacy against asymptomatic COVID-19. It showed 65.2 percent protection against the B.1.617.2 Delta variant.

As of now, Pfizer/BioNTech, Astrazeneca-SK Bio/Serum Institute of India, AstraZeneca EU, Janssen, Moderna, and Sinopharm are the vaccines that have WHO's approval for emergency use.