Covaxin has been awaiting approval from the WHO for emergency use authorisation.
The decision on emergency approval for Covaxin -- the indigenous vaccine manufactured by Bharat Biotech -- will be made next month, World Health Organisation's Chief Scientist Dr Soumya Swaminathan told NDTV today. Developed by Bharat Biotech and the ICMR, Covaxin was approved by the Indian Drug Controller in January and has been in use since.
Lately it has been awaiting approval from WHO for emergency use authorisation -- which will declare it safe for use in other nations and eventually enable people receiving the vaccine to travel abroad without being quarantined once air travel opens up.
"The decision on Covaxin approval will be made by the second week of August," Dr Swaminathan told NDTV in an exclusive interview.
Yesterday, Bharat Biotech's joint managing director Suchitra Ella said the vaccine is moving towards emergency use listing.
"Approval from WHO is not expected to be a long drawn process as cell line and majority of our facilities have already been audited and approved by WHO for our other vaccines in the past," Ms Ella said in a tweet.
Covax -- the worldwide initiative aimed at equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines -- has pushed for universal approval of vaccines okayed by WHO.
In a strong statement, Covax urged "all regional, national and local government authorities to recognise as fully vaccinated all people who have received COVID-19 vaccines that have been deemed safe and effective by the World Health Organization and/or the 11 Stringent Regulatory Authorities (SRAs) approved for COVID-19 vaccines, when making decisions on who is able to travel or attend events".