WHO's Covaxin approval is Diwali gift to India, poor nations: OMAG

The approval came after the Technical Advisory Group (TAG), an independent advisory committee of WHO recommended EUL status for Covaxin.

The Organised Medicine Academic Guild (OMAG), an umbrella organisation of professional medical associations of post-graduate doctors, thanked the WHO for approving Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin saying that it is not only a Diwali gift to India but several other poor nations.

India’s 'Vaccine Maitri' programme to help other nations will now flourish. Several rich countries have stockpiled vaccines but did not give them to other nations and India is the only hope for them.

Also Read | Glad to see Covaxin get the Emergency Use Listing approval: WHO chief

“It was a foregone conclusion that WHO would accord the Emergency Use Listing (EUL) status to the made in India Covid vaccine as the WHO was left with little choice. With several countries including the USA, Australia, UK, UAE etc. approving Covaxin, WHO was under tremendous pressure of losing its sanctity if it continued its defiance. Even it is indeed in the best interest of WHO itself, as its COVAX programme, to reach out the Covid-19 vaccines globally with the principle of equity, is under severe threat of being ridiculed,” OMAG secretary-general Dr IS Gilada and president Dr Suneela Garg said.

“COVAX has met just 10% of its goal of reaching out to poorer nations globally. Time is of prime essence because all eligible people should be fully vaccinated worldwide within limited time duration and the WHO is aiming for all countries to fully vaccinate 70% of their population by June 2022,” said Dr Gilada.

Also Read | Emergency Use Listing nod to Covaxin expands availability of vaccines: WHO official

“Secondly, WHO EUL sanction for Sinovac and Sinopharm -- both made in China vaccines -- which had mere 51% efficacy on paper was always considered a partisan approach by a supposedly neutral body. China itself has little confidence in their vaccines and hence decided in favour of a booster dose with another vaccine from outside China. However, the Covaxin has demonstrated 77.8 per cent effectiveness against symptomatic Covid-19 and 65.2 per cent protection against the Delta variant,” the OMAG stated.

“Before according to its sanction, the Technical Advisory Group (TAG) of WHO had sought additional details from Bharat Biotech on several occasions and kept postponing the approval. It is pathetic that diplomacy at the highest level needed to get this sanction rather than science. Covaxin is the second most widely used vaccine in India among the six vaccines currently approved in India since mid-2021. Of these Moderna, J&J and ZyCovD are yet to make a debut. Covishield accounts for most of the doses administered – almost 89% and Covaxin 11%,” added Dr Gilada.

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