Bharat Biotech says WHO nod to Covaxin for emergency use listing soon

Bharat Biotech said that its coronavirus vaccine Covaxin is likely to soon get the nod from World Health Organisation for emergency use listing (EUL). The documents have been submitted by the company and the WHO is reviewing the same.

"All documents required for Emergency Use Listing (EUL) of Covaxin have been submitted to WHO as of 9th July. The review process has now commenced with the expectation that we will receive EUL from WHO at the earliest," said Bharat Biotech Chairman and MD Krishna Ella in a tweet.

This comes after WHO chief scientist Soumya Swaminathan sad that the global health body is likely to take a decision on Covaxin for EUL in the next four to six weeks.

"We currently have six vaccines approved with EUL and have recommendations from our Strategic Advisory Group of Experts (SAGE). We continue to look at Covaxin. Bharat Biotech has now started uploading their data on our portal and that is the next vaccine that will be reviewed by our experts committee," Swaminathan had said.

WHAT IS EMERGENCY USE LISTING

According to the organisation, “The WHO Emergency Use Listing Procedure (EUL) is a risk-based procedure for assessing and listing unlicensed vaccines, therapeutics and in vitro diagnostics with the ultimate aim of expediting the availability of these products to people affected by a public health emergency. This will assist interested UN procurement agencies and Member States in determining the acceptability of using specific products, based on an essential set of available quality, safety, and efficacy and performance data. The procedure is a key tool for companies wishing to submit their products for use during health emergencies.”

Also read: Decision on emergency use listing for Bharat Biotech's Covaxin in 4-6 weeks: WHO
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