WHO Head Discusses Recognition Of Indian COVID-19 Vaccine With Health Minister

Mohammad Ali (@ChaudhryMAli88) Published October 20, 2021 | 02:57 PM

World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Wednesday that he has had a phone call with Indian Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya to discuss the recognition of India's Covaxin and vaccine supplies under the COVAX mechanism

NEW DELHI (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 20th October, 2021) World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Wednesday that he has had a phone call with Indian Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya to discuss the recognition of India's Covaxin and vaccine supplies under the COVAX mechanism.

The Bharat Biotech pharmaceutical company submitted the emergency listing application to the WHO in July and additional data at the UN health agency's request in late September.

"The Minister and I also discussed #VaccinEquity issues: the resumption of (Serum Institute of India)/AstraZeneca vaccine supplies to #COVAX; the Covaxin Emergency Use Listing process; and technology and license sharing through C-TAP," Tedros said on Twitter.

In addition, the officials discussed the need for a global pandemic agreement, as well as digital health and traditional medicine, the WHO chief said. He thanked India for the "flexible, sustainable financing" of the organization.

COVAX is an international mechanism launched by the WHO together with the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunizations and the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations to promote equitable distribution of COVID-19 vaccines among countries. Under the terms of the program, high-income countries pay for the purchase of vaccines enough to subsidize procurement for lower-income countries.

The COVID-19 Technology Access Pool (C-TAP) was launched by the WHO in May 2020 to remove barriers for the development and sharing of products against COVID-19 on a global scale.

Covaxin trials demonstrated 77.8% efficacy against symptomatic COVID-19 cases, including 93.4% efficacy in severe cases, and 63.6% efficacy in asymptomatic cases. The Indian vaccine has been registered in 16 countries and another 50 are undergoing the registration process.