WHO approves Serum Institute's COVID vaccine, Covovax

Covovax is a COVID-19 vaccine made by the Serum Institute of India in collaboration with the US-based Novavax.

New Delhi: The World Health Organization (WHO) on Friday announced that it has granted emergency approval to the COVID-19 vaccine Covovax, made in collaboration with the US-based Novavax paving the way for its inclusion in the UN-backed programme to get such vaccines to poorer countries around the world.

“Today, the World Health Organization issued an emergency use listing (EUL) for NVX-CoV2373, expanding the basket of WHO-validated vaccines against the SARS-CoV-2 virus. The vaccine, named CovovaxTM, is produced by the Serum Institute of India under licence from Novavax and is part of the COVAX facility portfolio, giving a much-needed boost to ongoing efforts to vaccinate more people in lower-income countries,” read the global health body’s release.

The WHO’s release said that the listing aims to increase access to the COVID-19 vaccine to the underprivileged and lower-income countries, 41 of which have still not been able to vaccinate 10% of their populations, while 98 countries have not reached 40%.

Serum Institute’s CEO Adar Poonawalla on Friday took to Twitter to announce the good news.

This is yet another milestone in our fight against COVID-19, Covovax is now W.H.O. approved for emergency use, showing excellent safety and efficacy. Thank you all for a great collaboration, @Novavax @WHO @GaviSeth @Gavi @gatesfoundation https://t.co/7C8RVZa3Y4

— Adar Poonawalla (@adarpoonawalla) December 17, 2021

Calling it another milestone for the country, Poonawalla wrote, “This is yet another milestone in our fight against COVID-19, Covovax is now WHO approved for emergency use, showing excellent safety and efficacy. Thank you all for a great collaboration.”