WHO chief discusses Covaxin, resumption of AstraZeneca vaccine supplies to COVAX facility with Mansukh Mandaviya

Mandaviya had also tweeted that he had a detailed interaction with the WHO chief, accompanied by other senior officials of the global health agency on various issues related to health, including pandemic management and WHO reforms.

DG WHO lauded the mammoth efforts undertaken by the Indian government for #COVID19 vaccination, Mandaviya tweeted.

The cumulative number of Covid vaccine doses administered in India crossed 99 crore on Tuesday and as the country is close to administering 100 crore doses.

According to official figures, around 74.45 per cent of India’s eligible adult population has been administered at least one dose of the Covid vaccine and around 30.63 per cent have received both doses.

The cumulative number of Covid vaccine doses administered in India crossed 99 crore on Tuesday and as the country is close to administering 100 crore doses.

On Monday, WHO said it is expecting one additional piece of information from Bharat Biotech regarding its COVID-19 vaccine COVAXIN and emphasised that it has to thoroughly evaluate to ensure vaccines are safe and cannot cut corners before recommending a vaccine for emergency use.

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, the global health organisation had said in a tweet.

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, it said.

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

When the information provided addresses all questions raised, WHO and the Technical Advisory Group will complete the assessment and come to a final recommendation whether to grant Emergency Use Listing to the vaccine, it said.

On Sunday, World Health Organisation Chief Scientist Soumya Swaminathan had said in a tweet that the technical advisory group at the World Health Organisation will meet on October 26 to consider the Emergency Use Listing for Covaxin.

Bharat Biotech had submitted EOI (Expression of Interest) on April 19 for its vaccine.

The WHO said it began rolling data of the vaccine on July 6.

Rolling data allows the WHO to start its review right away, as information continues to come in, to accelerate the overall review process.

According to the WHO, submissions to the global health body for prequalification or listing under the emergency use procedure are confidential.

If a product submitted for assessment is found to meet the criteria for listing, WHO will publish the results widely.

Duration of the emergency use listing process depends on the quality of the data submitted by the vaccine manufacturer and on those data meeting WHO criteria, according to the agency.

Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin and AstraZeneca and Oxford University’s Covishield are the two widely used vaccines in India.

The Covishield vaccine, which has been developed by AstraZeneca, is manufactured in India by Pune-based Serum Institute of India.

India will resume export of surplus COVID-19 vaccines in the fourth quarter of 2021 under the Vaccine Maitri’ programme and to meet its commitment to the COVAX global pool.

The government had stopped export of COVID-19 vaccines after the second wave of the pandemic hit the country in April this year.

India has exported over 66 million vaccine doses to nearly 100 countries through grants, commercial shipments and the COVAX facility.

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