Australia Recognises Covaxin for Travellers, Days Ahead of WHO's 'Final Assessment'

The Australian government on Monday said that it will accept Covaxin as a “recognised” vaccine for the purpose of establishing a traveller’s vaccination status amid India’s push for global approval for the Bharat Biotech-manufactured vaccine from the WHO.

In a statement, the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) of the government of Australia, which regulates and authorises vaccines in the country, said: “In recent weeks, the TGA has obtained additional information demonstrating these vaccines provide protection and potentially reduce the likelihood that an incoming traveller would transmit Covid-19 infection to others while in Australia or become acutely unwell due to Covid-19. The supporting information has been provided to the TGA from the vaccine sponsor and/or the World Health Organisation.”

It added, “Importantly, recognition of Covaxin, and BBIBP-CorV, along with the previously announced recognition of Coronavac (manufactured by Sinovac, China) and Covishield (manufactured by AstraZeneca, India), means many citizens of China and India as well as other countries in our region where these vaccines have been widely deployed will now be considered fully vaccinated on entry to Australia. This will have significant impacts for the return of international students, and travel of skilled and unskilled workers to Australia.”

Prime Minister Narendra Modi thanked his Australian counterpart, Scott Morrison, for the recognition. “I thank my dear friend @ScottMorrisonMP for Australia’s recognition of India’s COVAXIN. It is an important step forward in the post-COVID partnership between India and Australia,” the PM tweeted.

The nod for Covaxin comes just two days ahead of the Technical Advisory Group (TAG) for Emergency Use Listing (EUL) meeting for the final assessment of Covaxin.

Last month, the World Health Organization (WHO) had once again postponed granting approval to India’s indigenous Covid-19 vaccine, seeking more technical details to conduct a final ‘risk-benefit assessment’.

While the process has already taken more than six months so far, the WHO told News18.com in an emailed response that “duration of the emergency use listing process depends on the quality of the data submitted by the vaccine manufacturer and on those data meeting WHO criteria.”

Technical Advisory Group for Emergency Use Listing (TAG-EUL) is an independent advisory group that provides recommendations to WHO on whether a Covid-19 vaccine can be listed for emergency use under the EUL procedure.

The approval of Covaxin holds importance for millions of Indians who have taken the vaccine but are unable to travel pending the WHO approval. WHO’s approval will help international travel for Indians, including students and businessmen, who plan to travel to countries where a vaccination certificate for WHO-approved vaccines is compulsory.

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