'Cannot Cut Corners': WHO Awaits More Covaxin Information Before Final Call

“We are aware that many people are waiting for WHO’s recommendation for Covaxin," WHO also said.

“We are aware that many people are waiting for WHO’s recommendation for Covaxin to be included in the #COVID19 Emergency Use Listing, but we cannot cut corners," WHO said.

(Photo Courtesy: FIT)

Pointing out that they are expecting one additional piece of information from Bharat Biotech – the manufacturers of Covaxin – the World Health Organization (WHO), on Monday, 18 October, said:

“We are aware that many people are waiting for WHO’s recommendation for Covaxin to be included in the #COVID19 Emergency Use Listing, but we cannot cut corners - before recommending a product for emergency use, we must evaluate it thoroughly to make sure it is safe and effective.”

Bharat Biotech has been seeking a WHO emergency-use listing for several months now, and as pointed out by news agency Reuters, without WHO’s nod, Covaxin is unlikely to be accepted as a valid COVID-19 vaccine globally.

The WHO also shared on Twitter that the company has been submitting data to WHO on a rolling basis, and the global health body’s experts have been reviewing the same.

“Bharat Biotech - the manufacturer of Covaxin - has been submitting data to WHO on a rolling basis and WHO experts have reviewed these data. WHO is expecting one additional piece of information from the company today.”

Further, the WHO tweeted that “the timeframe for the WHO Emergency Use Listing procedure is dependent on how quickly a company producing the vaccine is able to provide the data required for WHO to evaluate the vaccine’s quality, safety, efficacy and its suitability for low- and middle-income countries.”

Thus, as per the organisation, once the information provided by Bharat Biotech addresses all questions raised by them, the WHO and the Technical Advisory Group will conclude their assessment. They will then take a call on whether to grant Emergency Use Listing to India’s indigenous COVID-19 jab Covaxin.

Earlier, in September, the WHO had said that the process of assessing Bharat Biotech's COVID-19 vaccine, Covaxin, is underway and a decision regarding its emergency use listing (EUL) will be made in October.