WHO gives global green light for AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine

Approval means distribution can start to poorer countries starved of doses to fight the pandemic.

Get the ball rolling: WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. Picture: AFP

The World Health Organisation has given emergency use approval to AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccines, meaning distribution can start to poorer countries starved of doses to fight the pandemic.

The AstraZeneca-Oxford jab forms the bulk of batches being lined up through Covax, the global program aimed at procuring and shipping out vaccines equitably around the world, regardless of wealth.

It is only the second COVID-19 jab to have received WHO authorisation, after the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine.

“The WHO today listed two versions of the AstraZeneca-Oxford COVID-19 vaccine for emergency use, giving the green light for these vaccines to be rolled out globally through Covax,” the UN health agency said on Monday night.

The two versions given the seal of approval are being produced by the Serum Institute of India, and by SKBio in South Korea. Separate reviews were needed for each production ­process, although the vaccine is the same.

“Countries with no access to vaccines to date will finally be able to start vaccinating their health workers and populations at risk, contributing to the Covax facility’s goal of equitable vaccine distribution,” said WHO ­assistant director-general Mariangela Simao.

“But we must keep up the pressure to meet the needs of ­priority populations everywhere and facilitate global access. To do that, we need two things — a scale-up of manufacturing capacity, and developers’ early submission of their vaccines for WHO review.”

The organisation’s emergency use listing is a prerequisite for vaccines in the WHO co-led Covax program.

AstraZeneca vaccines from India and South Korea made up almost all of the initial 337.2 million doses lined up for Covax’s first wave of distribution, which is set to get moving in late this month.

Some 145 participating economies are set to receive enough doses to immunise 3.3 per cent of their collective population by mid-2021.

“We now have all the pieces in place for the rapid distribution of vaccines,” WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said.

AFP