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'Diwali of Aatmanirbhar Bharat': Health minister hails PM Modi for Covaxin's WHO approval
"This is a sign of capable leadership. This is the story of Modiji's resolution. This is the language of the faith of Indians. This is the Diwali of a self-reliant India," the health minister wrote thanking WHO for granting emergency use listing to Made-in-India Covaxin.
As Bharat Biotech's Covaxin got emergency use approval from the World Health Organization, Union health minister Mansukh Mandaviya on Wednesday praised Prime Minister Narendra Modi's leadership and said this will be self-reliant India's Diwali this year. After a long wait for months, the emergency use approval has been granted to India's first home-grown vaccine against Covid-19, just a day before Diwali.
"This is a sign of capable leadership. This is the story of Modiji's resolution. This is the language of the faith of Indians. This is the Diwali of a self-reliant India," the health minister wrote thanking WHO for granting emergency use listing to Made-in-India Covaxin.
The WHO approval is a major recognition of the work of the Indian scientists as this is the first vaccine against Covid-19 developed and manufactured in India. Following WHO's decision, many countries are likely to open their doors for people vaccinated with Covaxin. At the same time, it will allow Bharat Biotech to export Covaxin.
Bharat Biotech started sharing data with WHO from early July and a decision was expected in October. But a delay in the process created uncertainty over Covaxin's international status.
Bharat Biotech's vaccine is the seventh to win WHO backing following two mRNA shots from Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna, adenovirus vector vaccines developed by AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson, and China's inactivated vaccines from Sinovac Biotech and Sinopharm.
The WHO's approval may also clear the way for India to commit supplies to the COVAX global vaccine sharing effort, which is co-led by the WHO and aims to provide equitable access to shots for low- and middle-income countries, Reuters said.
“WHO has granted emergency use listing (EUL) to #COVAXIN® (developed by Bharat Biotech), adding to a growing portfolio of vaccines validated by WHO for the prevention of #COVID19. The Technical Advisory Group, convened by WHO and made up of regulatory experts from around the world, has determined that the #Covaxin vaccine meets WHO standards for protection against #COVID19, that the benefit of the vaccine far outweighs risks & the vaccine can be used. #Covaxin vaccine was also reviewed by WHO’s Strategic Advisory Group of Experts on Immunization (SAGE), and recommended use of this vaccine in two doses, with a dose interval of four weeks, in all age groups 18 and above. Available data on vaccination of pregnant women with the #Covaxin vaccine are insufficient to assess vaccine safety or efficacy in pregnancy; studies in pregnant women are planned, including a pregnancy sub-study and a pregnancy registry,” WHO tweeted.
External affairs minister S Jaishankar said the move is a global recognition to PM Modi's vision of an ‘Aatmanirbhar Bharat’.
WHo director general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus expressed his gladness to see another vaccine getting emergency use listing by the WHO. "The more products we have to fight Covid-19, the better, but we must keep up the pressure to deliver vaccine equity and prioritize access to vulnerable groups who are still waiting for their 1st dose," he tweeted.
