Covaxin's emergency use listing to be analysed by WHO's technical panel on October 26

The World Health Organization's (WHO) technical advisory panel will meet on October 26 to examine the emergency use listing for Bharat Biotech's COVID-19 vaccine Covaxin, WHO's head scientist Soumya Swaminathan informed on October 17.

This comes after India’s indigenous inactivated vaccine was expected to receive the final decision of the global health body on the emergency use listing by this week.

WHO’s technical panel to meet on Oct 26 to examine Covaxin’s emergency listing

Informing about the latest development, Soumya Swaminathan tweeted, “The technical advisory group will meet on Oct 26th to consider EUL for #Covaxin. @WHO has been working closely with  @BharatBiotech to complete the dossier. Our goal is to have a broad portfolio of vaccines approved for emergency use & to expand access to populations everywhere.”

The WHO's Strategic Advisory Group of Experts on Immunization (SAGE), that last met on October 6 to offer suggestions on Bharat Biotech's Covaxin's EUL status, had previously stated that it would reach a decision within a week's time.

The WHO and the Technical Advisory Group of independent experts are conducting the emergency use listing process to determine whether the manufactured COVID-19 vaccine is quality-assured, safe, and effective, the WHO had said with regard to the ongoing listing process.

According to an official update, the WHO is presently analysing the data given by the vaccine manufacturer, and a decision on vaccination is expected by the end of October. Covaxin, along with other vaccines including Covishield and Sputnik V, has acquired emergency use authorisation from India's medicines regulator and are being used in the country's statewide vaccination programme.

Covaxin, which was developed by Bharat Biotech in partnership with the National Institute of Virology and the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), demonstrated a 78% efficacy rate in clinical testing. It was cleared for emergency use by the Indian government in January this year, but it has yet to be approved by the WHO. The six COVID-19 vaccines that have gained emergency use authorisation from the WHO are the Pfizer-BioNTech jab, and the two versions of AstraZeneca-Oxford vaccines— one being the AstraZeneca vaccine produced by SK Bio and the Serum Institute of India (SII), and the other - AstraZeneca EU, Janssen, Moderna, and Sinopharm vaccines.

(With PTI Inputs)

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