Covaxin — Indian company Bharat Biotech’s COVID-19 vaccine — has been chosen by the Philippines’ food and drug agency for emergency use, Food and Drug Administration chief Rolando Enrique Domingo told media last June 25.
Bharat Biotech was given “full emergency use authorization” (EUA) for its Covaxin brand after the company approved its documents Domingo stated. The Philippines is the ninth country to grant the EUA to Covaxin, which has an 81% efficacy rate and is a traditional inactivated whole virion vaccine.
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Covaxin– an inactivated viral vaccine that was developed through Whole-Virion Inactivated Vero Cell-derived technology — has inactivated viruses that do not infect a person, but instead make the immune system produce defences against the attacking virus.
Besides being the first indigenously developed COVID-19 vaccine in India by Bharat Biotech in collaboration with the Indian Council of Medical Research, the vaccine has received EUA approval from 13 countries, besides 6o others processing their approval documents.
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Brazil’s health regulator Agência Nacional de Vigilância Sanitária (Anvisa) recently approved the import of four million doses of Bharat Biotech’s Covaxi, besides granting certification of Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) to the manufacturing facility as well as its biological output. Brazil is a member country of the Pharmaceutical Inspection. (AW)
