After haranguing India on the importance of not cutting any corners with regards to the issue of the emergency use listing of Bharat Biotech’s COVID-19 vaccine Covaxin, the World Health Organisation (WHO) Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus spoke to Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya on the resumption of supplies of the Serum Institute of India-manufactured AstraZeneca vaccine to the COVAX facility.
Had a call with @mansukhmandviya, India’s Health Minister, to discuss #India’s ongoing #COVID19 vaccination programme; the need for a global pandemic agreement; digital health; & traditional medicine. We welcome India’s support to strengthen WHO, incl. via flexible, sustainable financing, Ghebreyesus tweeted on Tuesday.
The other topics that were discussed with Mandaviya was vaccine equity issues and the Covaxin Emergency Use Listing process, and technology and license sharing through C-TAP.
COVID-19 Technology Access Pool (C-TAP) was launched in May last year for facilitating timely, equitable and affordable access of COVID-19 health products by boosting their supply.
India on Thursday (October 21) also crossed a monumental milestone when it vaccinated 100 crore people (One Billion) and 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.
On Monday, WHO said it is expecting one additional piece of information from Bharat Biotech regarding its COVID-19 vaccine COVAXIN and said that it follows a thorough evaluation process 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.
Also, the world is waiting for India to resume the 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.
So far India has exported over 66 million vaccine doses to nearly 100 countries through grants, commercial shipments and the COVAX facility.
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