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👉The World Health Organization (WHO) has granted an emergency use licence (EUL) to Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin, a move that ends months of suspense over the fate of a Covid-19 vaccine that has had a tumultuous journey since the beginning of its development last year. The vaccine was approved for use in India under emergency use authorisation since January this year. But in the absence of an EUL by WHO, it wasn’t considered valid by many countries.
👉The EUL, the first to any vaccine developed in India, is an acknowledgment of the research credentials of the Hyderabad-based company. More importantly, it paves the way for its widespread distribution around the world. It also brightens the chances for the company’s vaccine for children —India’s first for the age group 2-18 — although that will have to be appraised separately.
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Bharat Biotech was one of two Indian companies to have decided to develop a vaccine for Covid-19, immediately after the pandemic started spreading in India, the other being Ahmedabad-based Zydus. Bharat Biotech was selected the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) for a partnership in the development of this vaccine, although the role of the government research organisation was restricted mainly to supplying virus samples. Most of the research and development, as well as investments, came from the Hyderabad-based company.WEBJAANKARI.IN
👉Bharat Biotech was no stranger to vaccine development and manufacturing. At the time it ventured into Covid19 vaccine, it already had 15 other vaccines for different diseases in the market, including the rotavirus vaccine that was developed after a decade of research. Its typhoid vaccine, based on an innovative technology and commercialized three years ago, is the only one in the world that provides long-term immunity against the disease. The typhoid vaccine is also approved by the WHO for global use.
👉Yet, when it came to the Covid-19 vaccine, the company opted for a traditional and time-tested technology, unlike the fancier technologies that several foreign companies were using. It uses a dead pathogen to trigger an immune response. This is considered a safer approach, one that has less chance of causing side-effects, compareAd to vaccines that use live inactivated pathogens or their proteins or genetic material.
👉Bharat Biotech’s approach received the support of the scientific community, but two moves by the government led to the vaccine coming under attack, not just from scientists but also from the general public, and also resulted in scepticism in India and abroad. The first was the revelation, in early July, that ICMR director general Balram Bhargava had directed the hospitals chosen for the trials to “fast-track all approvals related to clinical trials” apparently because “it was envisaged to launch the vaccine for public health use latest by August 15, 2020”.
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