Review of Covaxin underway, expect a recommendation within 24 hours: WHO

A technical advisory group of the WHO reviewing data on Covaxin for the emergency use listing of India's vaccine and if it is satisfied a recommendation is expected within the next 24 hours or so

A technical advisory group of the World Health Organisation was on Tuesday reviewing data on Covaxin for the emergency use listing of India's indigenously-made vaccine and if it is satisfied a recommendation is expected within the next 24 hours or so, a spokesperson said.

Hyderabad-based Bharat Biotech, which has developed Covaxin, had submitted EOI (Expression of Interest) to the WHO on April 19 for the vaccine's Emergency Use Listing (EUL).

"If the committee is satisfied, we would expect a recommendation within the next 24 hours or so," a WHO spokesperson told reporters.

The Covaxin has demonstrated 77.8 per cent effectiveness against symptomatic COVID-19 and 65.2 per cent protection against the new Delta variant. In June, the company said it concluded the final analysis of Covaxin efficacy from Phase 3 trials.

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

The WHO has so far approved Covid-19 vaccines of Pfizer-BioNTech, AstraZeneca-SK Bio/Serum Institute of India, Johnson & Johnson-Janssen, Moderna, and Sinopharm for emergency use.