West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday, 24 June, wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, urging him to ensure that Covaxin – an indigenous COVID-19 vaccine developed by Bharat Biotech – receives early approval from the World Health Organisation.
Banerjee in her letter stated that the state has been administering both Covishield and Covaxin, and those who have received Bharat Biotech’s vaccine are facing difficulties in traveling abroad.
“It is learnt that Covaxin is still not approved by WHO and it is not possible to travel abroad as many countries are allowing only those people who are fully vaccinated with WHO approved vaccines.”Mamata Banerjee in her letter to PM Modi.
Banerjee added that students who had been administered Covaxin and are planning to travel abroad for higher students are being told that their COVID-19 vaccination certificate is not valid.
“These students are in a fix regarding their next course of action and their career is at stake,” she said.
When Will WHO Approve Covaxin?
Chief Minister Banerjee’s letter comes a day after Bharat Biotech and the WHO held a ‘pre-submission’ meeting to discuss the international emergency use listing for COVAXIN, reported NDTV.
Earlier in May, Bharat Biotech had said that it had submitted 90 percent of the paperwork required by WHO for including a vaccine under the EUL. Generally, an EUL is only given after an exhaustive assessment of clinical data provided by manufactures.
EUL will make international travel much easier for Indian who have been administered Covaxin, as the vaccine is still not approved by the US, Canada, Australia and the European Union.
So far, the WHO has only approved seven COVID-19 vaccines, which include Astrazeneca’s Covishield, Pfizer-BioNtech and Moderna among others.
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