Bharat Biotech's Covaxin gets WHO nod for emergency use

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• Nov 3, 2021 | moderator

New Delhi: The World Health Organisation (WHO) has given its nod to Bharat Biotech's Covaxin for emergency usage, reported PTI.

This marks a major victory for India's journey in vaccination against Covid-19. Covaxin is a vaccine, completely 'made in India', by Hyderabad-based Bharat Biotech and the Indian Council of Medical Research.

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The emergency listing got delayed last month as the technical advisory group sought some additional clarification from Bharat Biotech for its final risk assessment. The technical advisory group met on Wednesday to take the final call, and Covaxin has been recommended for emergency use listing.

Covaxin has demonstrated 77.8 per cent effectiveness against symptomatic COVID-19 and 65.2 per cent protection against the new Delta variant. Bharat Biotech said that it concluded the final analysis of Covaxin efficacy from Phase 3 trials. WHO has so far approved Covid-19 vaccines of Pfizer-BioNTech, AstraZeneca-SK Bio/Serum Institute of India, Johnson 7 Johnson - Janssen, Moderna, and Sinopharm for emergency use.

The go-ahead from the technical team can be considered as getting approval from WHO and the world body has also announced it on its social media platform.