Made in India COVID vaccine, Covaxin gets WHO approval for emergency use listing

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has granted approval for Emergency Use Listing (EUL) to India’s indigenously made COVID-19 vaccine, Covaxin which has been developed and manufactured by Bharat Biotech. At the G-20 summit recently, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had pushed for WHO nod for Covaxin, saying India will produce five billion Covid vaccine doses by 2022.
The Technical Advisory Group of WHO, which met yesterday, has recommended the Emergency Use Listing status for Covaxin. The World Health Organisation’s panel had last week sought additional clarifications from the Hyderabad-based firm. Covaxin is one of the six vaccines that have received emergency use authorisation from Drugs Controller General of India and is being used in the nationwide inoculation programme, along with Covishield and Sputnik V.
Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya greeted the scientists of Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) and Bharat Biotech on the approval of the Made-in-India vaccine. Bharat Biotech Chairman and Managing Director Dr. Krishna Ella said, the validation by WHO is a very significant step towards ensuring global access to India’s widely administered, safe, and efficacious Covaxin. He was speaking in Hyderabad after Covaxin received nod from the WHO.