WHO Approves Indian Covovax | Find Approved Vaccines | what is EUL?
The World Health Organisation on 17 December 2021, issued an emergency use listing (EUL) for NVX-CoV2373, against the SARS-CoV-2 virus. Allowing the Indian Vaccine as a part of the EUL, to be used against the Corona Virus as an effective tool to overcome the pandemic, in case of emergency.
The vaccine, named COVOVAX, is produced by the Serum Institute of India under licence from Novavax and is part of the COVAX facility.
The Covax facility is a program run by the United Nations, to fight against COVID-19. It works for the vaccination of the world population. It lists the various effective vaccines developed around the globe. Provides vaccine doses to around 20% of countries’ populations.
What is an Emergency listing procedure?
The emergency use listing (EUL) is a procedure used by the UN. In EUL health care products such as medicines, vaccines and diagnostics are listed in advance for future use. These products are prepared and tested, beforehand, for their safety, efficacy and quality and are set to be used in case of emergency requirements.
The objective of EUL is to provide these health care essentials as rapidly and efficiently as possible, during public health emergencies. All this while adhering to stringent safety, efficiency and quality criterias. To minimise the risk of compromising public health in urgency.
The assessment weighs the threat posed by the emergency as well as the benefit that would accrue from the use of the product against any potential risks.
Effective Vaccines
The addition of Covovax expanded the basket of WHO-validated EUL vaccines. Now there are a total of 9 vaccines issued under the EUL. Namely,
- Moderna – mRNA-1273
- Serum Institute of India – COVOVAX
- Pfizer/BioNTech – BNT162b2
- Janssen (Johnson & Johnson) Ad26.COV2.S
- Oxford/AstraZeneca – AZD1222
- Serum Institute of India – Covishield
- Bharat Biotech – Covaxin
- Sinopharm (Beijing) – BBIBP-CorV (Vero Cells)
- Sinovac – CoronaVac
The following table lays down the details of the various available approved vaccines.
| Name | Manufacturer | Approval status | Type | Trial + Countries |
| mRNA-1273 | Moderna | Approved in 81 countries | RNA | 35 trials in 9 countries |
| Covovax | Serum Institute of India | Approved in 2 countries | Protein Subunit | 2 trials in 1 country |
| BNT162b2 | Pfizer/BioNTech | Approved in 118 countries | RNA | 49 trials in 23 countries |
| Ad26.COV2.S | Janssen (Johnson & Johnson) | Approved in 91 countries | Non Replicating Viral Vector | 16 trials in 18 countries |
| AZD1222 | Oxford/AstraZeneca | Approved in 133 countries | Non Replicating Viral Vector | 52 trials in 23 countries |
| Covishield | Serum Institute of India | Approved in 47 countries | Non Replicating Viral Vector | 2 trials in 1 country |
| Covaxin | Bharat Biotech | Approved in 12 countries | Inactivated | 7 trials in 1 country |
| BBIBP-CorV (Vero Cells) | Sinopharm (Beijing) | Approved in 77 countries | Inactivated | 19 trials in 10 countries |
| CoronaVac | Sinovac | Approved in 48 countries | Inactivated | 27 trials in 8 countries |
