WHO approves 10th approved COVID vaccine

Geneva: The World Health Organization approved the COVID vaccine made by US pharmaceutical giant Novavacs for emergency use on Tuesday after European Union drug regulators gave it a green light. The European Medicines Agency evaluated and approved Nuvaxovid on Monday. Brussels officials hope this will help convince those who are hesitant to vaccinate, as it is made with more conventional techniques than other techniques that have already been approved. ..

Jab uses traditional techniques that include proteins found in coronavirus peaplomers that provoke an immune response. This is a trial-and-error approach that has been used for decades to vaccinate people against diseases such as hepatitis B and whooping cough. The so-called Emergency Use List (EUL) by WHO paves the way for countries around the world to quickly approve and import vaccines for distribution.

It also opens the door to participation in Covax’s global vaccine sharing scheme, which is set up for equitable access to vaccinations around the world, especially in poorer countries. The two-shot Nuvaxovid jab is the tenth COVID vaccine issued by the United Nations Health Agency by EUL.

According to WHO, Nuvaxovid was about 90% effective in reducing symptomatic cases of COVID-19 in two major clinical trials in the United Kingdom, the United States and Mexico with more than 45,000 participants. In another document, the WHO Strategic Advisory Group on Immunization recommended a new vaccine for use in people over the age of 18 with a 3-4 week interval between the two doses.

“The vaccine should not be given at intervals of less than 3 weeks,” it warned. It can be kept at a refrigerated temperature of 2-8 degrees Celsius, which has a logistic advantage over difficult-to-access areas over mRNA vaccines that need to be stored at ultra-low temperatures. Among the COVID vaccines already given to WHOEUL is Covovax Shot, a version of the Novavax vaccine manufactured by the Indian Serum Institute under license from a US-based company. Approved on December 17th.

Also included in the list are BioNTech / Pfizer and Moderna, Johnson & Johnson, AstraZeneca (counted twice for versions manufactured in Europe and India), Covaxin made in India, and mRNA vaccines made by Sinopharm and Sinovac made in China. I am. .. WHO has also been waiting for additional data and has resumed evaluation of the Russian-made Sputnik V vaccine for COVID-19 for several months.

Rogerio Gaspar, head of WHO’s regulatory and pre-qualification department, said Monday that the United Nations Health Organization will begin assessing the quality of the data received next month and aim to conduct on-site inspections in February. I did. “Approval really … depends on the quality of the information, so we can’t provide a date of approval,” he told reporters. Neither the US nor the EU drug monitoring agency has ever granted approval for Sputnik V, which has been used in Russia and several other countries since late 2020. – AFP