WHO reviews Bharat Biotech's Covaxin for emergency use listing

New Delhi: Bharat Biotech's COVID-19 vaccine, Covaxin is under review by technical experts for emergency use listing, Dr Poonam Khetrapal Singh, Regional Director, WHO South-East Asia said on Monday, as per a PTI report.

In the meeting held to add Covaxin in the emergency use listing, Dr Singh said: "Pfizer, AstraZeneca, Moderna, Johnson and Johnson, Sinovac and Sinopharm have been granted EUL by the WHO. For COVXIN, an expression of interest for EUL has been made to WHO by Bharat Biotech. WHO has already conducted a pre-submission meeting with the company following which a dossier has been submitted by Bharat Biotech to WHO in early July. The dossier is currently under review by the technical experts for consideration of EUL."

Dr Singh also said that India has been offered 7.5 million doses of Moderna vaccine through WHO's COVID-19 Vaccines Global Access (COVAX) program.

He also warned about the possibility of the Delta variant of coronavirus becoming the most dominant Covid strain.

Dr Singh said: "Delta variant has spread to over 100 countries, the way its spreading is likely to soon become the most dominant COVID strain globally."

"Among all variants of concern, Delta spreads most rapidly. The rapid spread means more cases, leading to more pressure on health systems and more deaths," she said. The WHO South-East Asia director said that globally, COVID cases and fatalities were again on the rise.

Dr Singh urged people to act 'urgently' to contain the spread of the COVID-19 virus and aggressively scale up vaccination especially of the vulnerable population for containment of the possible third wave.

"People are longing to go back to their normal lives which is understandable. However, we have to be reminded of the huge risk of letting our guards down. If we take the precautions, get vaccinated and leave no room for the virus to infect us, all of us together can contain the spread of the virus," she added.

She informed that for the past ten consecutive weeks, COVID cases have been continuously increasing in some Eastern Mediterranean, European and Southeast Asian countries.

Dr Singh also said that cases are on a decline in India, Nepal, and Maldives. "However, the situation continues to be a concern,' she said.

"The pandemic isn't over anywhere. We must continue to strengthen our capacity. There is absolutely no room for complacency. We need to prevent another surge and scale up our response capacity along with our vaccination programmes," she added.