The World Health Organisation (WHO) is expected to give approval to Covaxin, the COVID-19 vaccine developed by Bharat Biotech, “within this week”, a report said on September 13.
The ANI, citing unnamed sources, said that the indigenously developed vaccine is expected to be approved by the WHO this week.
More than 8.72 crore doses of the Covaxin vaccine have been administered in India till date, according to CoWIN data. WHO approval for the vaccine is very important as it is yet to be approved by most of the countries worldwide.
Bharat Biotech has submitted its Phase 3 clinical trials data that demonstrated 77.8 per cent efficacy to the Subject Expert Committee (SEC) of the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO).
Earlier in June, a pre-submission meeting for WHO Emergency Use Listing Procedure (EUL), which provides advice before the submission of the final dossier, was also held.
Union health minister Mansukh Mandaviya had also earlier met WHO chief scientist Dr Soumya Swaminathan and held discussions over the approval of Bharat Biotech’s COVID-19 vaccine Covaxin.
Marianne Simao, a WHO assistant director general for vaccines, also said that the UN health agency’s assessment of this vaccine was quite advanced and officials hoped for decision by mid-September.
Covaxin was developed by Hyderabad-based Bharat Biotech in association with the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) and the National Institute of Virology (NIV).
