New Delhi:

The clearance for using Covaxin on children will take much less time, World Health Organization (WHO) chief scientist Dr Soumya Swaminathan told NDTV after the Bharat Biotech-manufactured vaccine’s Emergency Use Listing.

The WHO’s Emergency Use Listing is a risk-based procedure for assessing and listing new, or unlicensed, products that can be used during public health emergencies.

The global health organisation’s nod means that the ‘made-in-India’ vaccine will be recognised by other countries and Indians who received the shot need not self-quarantine or face restrictions when travelling abroad.

Dr Swaminathan clarified that Covaxin, by no means, took the longest to secure WHO’s approval. Her response comes as a counter to the criticism that the global health body had cleared other vaccines, including those manufactured in China, quickly and held up the nod to Covaxin.

On an average, she said, the approval took 50 to 60 days but some took up to 165 days. Notably, the China-made Sinopharm and Sinovac vaccines took between 150-165 days to secure the approval, she said.

“Covaxin is somewhere in the middle, it took somewhere between 90 and 100 days,” she said. She said the WHO panel tasked with clearing vaccines for Emergency Use Listing met over Covaxin last week and asked for additional clarifications. “The committee met again today and were very satisfied,” she said, adding that there are other 13 vaccines that are still waiting for the nod.

To a query on whether the vaccine is completely safe for pregnant women, she said more data is needed to reach a conclusion. “What we do know so far is that a lot of pregnant women in India have taken the Covaxin vaccine and we are awaiting the data,” she said.

On the vaccine’s possible impact on children and newborns, she again pointed out that more data is needed to come up with a conclusion.

Asked how long the approval for use on children may take, she said, “In this case, it should be much faster. But again, it really depends on the data.”

On the impact of the clearance on travel plans, she said, “It has very significant implications. Many countries accept WHO Emergency Use Listed vaccines because it’s a stamp of safety, efficacy and quality.”