WHO Suspends Covaxin To Cover Up Deficiencies Of Manufacturing Facility

International Health watchdog, the World Health Organization (WHO), suspended the supply of India-based Bharat Biotech's Covaxin under the Covax facility. The suspension would allow the manufacturer to upgrade the facilities and address deficiencies found in an inspection. Covaxin was India's first indigenous vaccine. The suspension comes as a response to the WHO's post-emergency use listing inspection conducted between March 14 – and 22 and the need to complete process and facility upgrades to address recently identified good manufacturing practice (GMP) deficiencies.

No Safety Concerns Exist

"The risk assessment to date does not indicate a change in the risk-benefit ratio. The data available to WHO indicate the vaccine is effective, and no safety concern exists. To continue vaccination with alternative sources of Covid 19 vaccines, countries should refer to the respective SAGE recommendation", Hindustan Times reported.

However, the company has issued a statement saying that it was committed to complying by addressing the GMP deficiencies and developing a corrective and preventive action plan for submission to the Drugs Controller General of India DCGI and WHO. Therefore, for a brief time, there would be a suspension in the supply of Covaxin due to the suspension of the product for export. The UN Body also clarified that there were no issues with safety and the product's efficacy.

While the company did not respond to questions from the media, a statement for their end mentioned that they were making appropriate changes in manufacturing processes to match the standards of the international health body. They also noted that the highly sophisticated equipment required for manufacturing was unavailable due to the pandemic. Nonetheless, they stressed that the quality of the vaccine was never compromised.

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