The WHO had approved AstraZeneca's vaccine for COVAX's program. (Image via ABC)

WHO releases EUA for AstraZeneca

On Monday, the World Health Organization (WHO) released the emergency use authorization (EUA) for the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) vaccine by the British-Swedish joint effort, AstraZeneca-Oxford, through the COVID-19 Vaccines Global Access (COVAX) mechanism.

Speaking in the WHO's headquarters in Geneva, the Director-General of the WHO, dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, stated that the vaccine from the collaboration between AstraZeneca and Oxford will be the second vaccine included in the WHO's EUA list. The COVID-19 vaccine from Pfizer-BioNTech was already included in the list since 31 December 2020. Therefore, WHO is confident that the world will soon recover from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Moreover, dr. Ghebreyesus explained that there are two versions of AstraZeneca's vaccine. One is produced by AstraZeneca-SKBio, and the other by Serum Institute of India (SII). Therefore, the two different versions of AstraZeneca's vaccine have to be reviewed and approved by the WHO separately since they are produced in two different manufacturers. The WHO had also assessed these two different versions for around four weeks.

For the vaccines to be included in the WHO's EUA list, the WHO will assess the vaccines for their quality, safety, and efficacy. These three criteria will be the main requirements for the vaccines to be included in COVAX's distribution. Besides fulfilling the three criteria, AstraZeneca's vaccine is also cheaper and easier to be distributed to even the tropical countries.

Source: https://bit.ly/3pveiZq