Emergency use nod to Bharat Biotech's Covaxin: WHO's Technical Advisory Group to decide today

New Delhi: The Technical Advisory Group (TAG), an independent advisory panel of the World Health Organisation (WHO), will meet on Wednesday to decide on granting the emergency use authorization for Bharat Biotech’s anti-COVID vaccine Covaxin.

The technical panel had earlier sought additional clarifications from Bharat Biotech, the manufacturer of Covaxin, in order to conduct a final Emergency Use Listing (EUL) risk-benefit assessment for global use of the vaccine.

News agency ANI quoted a WHO official as saying, "The TAG met on October 26, 2021, and decided to seek additional clarifications from the Covaxin manufacturers that are needed to conduct a final EUL risk-benefit assessment for global use of the vaccine."

"The TAG expects to receive these clarifications from the manufacturer by the end of this week and aims to reconvene for the final risk-benefit assessment on Wednesday, 3 November," the WHO had said in a statement.

The Technical Advisory Group for Emergency Use Listing (TAG-EUL) is an independent advisory group that provides recommendations to WHO on whether a Covid19 vaccine can be listed for emergency use under the EUL procedure.

Covaxin has demonstrated 77.8 per cent effectiveness against symptomatic COVID-19 and 65.2 per cent protection against the new Delta variant. 

The Bharat Biotech said that it concluded the final analysis of Covaxin efficacy from Phase 3 trials. Bharat Biotech`s Covaxin and AstraZeneca and Serum Institute`s Covishield are the two widely used vaccines in India.

Meanwhile, India`s cumulative vaccination coverage crossed 107 crore till 7 PM on Tuesday. The 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.