Covid vaccine EUL recommendation process sometimes takes longer: WHO official says as Covaxin decision awaited

WHO Chief Scientist Soumya Swaminathan had tweeted earlier that the technical advisory group of WHO will meet on October 26 for the Emergency Use Listing for Covaxin.

As the decision for the emergency use of Bharat Biotech waits, a top WHO official said such processes of vaccine approvals take longer than expected as they evaluate vaccines thoroughly before recommending them. They also added that the right advice must be given to the world even if it takes an extra week or two.

Dr Mike Ryan said it in a virtual Q7A session recently on whether the approval will happen on October 26 or not.

Previously this week there was a statement from WHO via Twitter saying that they are waiting for an additional piece of information from Bharat Biotech and they can’t cut corners to give a WHO recommendation for emergency use.

Dr Ryan further added that they have to be certain that the vaccine is safe and it is fundamental that all necessary details are collected of not just the vaccine but also its manufacturing processes.

He further explained how the WHO technical advisory groups work. He said that the vaccine manufacturers like Bharat Biotech have to request and respond to WHO and say that they want their vaccine in the EUL (Emergency Use Listing) and then provide relevant documents for the same like its efficacy studies, manufacturing process etc.

He said that the work done by the advisory group is extremely crucial and they have to be sure about every little detail and that takes time.

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