World Health Organisation’s Technical Advisory Group for emergency use listing (TAG-EUL) is likely to list Bharat Biotech’s COVID-19 vaccine Covaxin after some additional clarifications from Bharat Biotech and final risk-benefit assessment on Wednesday.
“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,” a WHO report said.
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. The TAG met on October 26 and decided to seek additional clarifications from Covaxin makers needed to conduct a final EUL risk-benefit assessment for global use of the vaccine.
Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin has been approved for international travel by countries like Australia, Guyana, Iran, Mauritius, Mexico, Nepal, Philippines and Zimbabwe. Covaxin is developed by Hyderabad-based Bharat Biotech International Limited in collaboration with the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) and National Institute of Virology, Pune (NIV).
Covaxin is proven to have 77.8 per cent effectiveness against symptomatic COVID-19 and 65.2 per cent protection against the new Delta variant. Bharat Biotech stated that it has concluded the final analysis of Covaxin efficacy from Phase 3 trials.
Covaxin and Serum Institute of India’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.
(With agency inputs)
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