9 COVID-19 Vaccines Approved By WHO For Emergency Use

WHO emergency use listing The World Health Organization (WHO) has so far approved nine vaccines for prevention of COVID-19 caused by SARS-CoV-2. WHO’s emergency use listing (EUL) procedure assesses the suitability of novel health products during public health emergencies. It weighs the threat posed by the emergency and the benefit of using the product against any potential risks. WHO’s EUL also allows the vaccine to be rolled out globally. The WHO’s product evaluation group assesses the quality, safety and efficacy of COVID-19 vaccines, as well as risk management plans and programmatic suitability, such as cold chain requirements, before listing them for emergency use. Below is the list of COVID-19 vaccines listed by WHO for emergency use.Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine The Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine was granted WHO’s Emergency Use Listing on 31 December 2020.AstraZeneca-Oxford vaccine Two versions of AstraZeneca/Oxford COVID-19 vaccine, produced by AstraZeneca-SKBio (Republic of Korea) and the Serum Institute of India (called Covishield), were granted Emergency Use Listing (EUL) by the World Health Organization (WHO) on 15 February 2021.Johnson & Johnson The WHO listed the COVID-19 vaccine Ad26.COV2.S, developed by Janssen (Johnson & Johnson), for emergency use in all countries and for COVAX roll-out on 12 March 2021.Moderna vaccine The Moderna COVID-19 vaccine (mRNA 1273) became the fifth vaccine to receive emergency validation from WHO, when the organisation listed it for emergency use on 30 April 2021.Sinopharm vaccine The WHO on 7 May 2021 listed the Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccine for emergency use, giving the green light for its global use. The Sinopharm vaccine is produced by Beijing Bio-Institute of Biological Products Co Ltd, subsidiary of China National Biotec Group (CNBG).Sinovac CoronaVac The Sinovac-CoronaVac COVID-19 vaccine, produced by Beijing-based pharmaceutical company Sinovac, received WHO validation for emergency use on 1 June 2021.COVAXIN On 3rd November 2021, the World Health Organization (WHO) issued an emergency use listing (EUL) for COVAXIN, India’s first indigenous COVID-19 vaccine developed by Hyderabad-based Bharat Biotech.Covovax On December 17, 2022, the World Health Organization issued an emergency use listing (EUL) for NVX-CoV2373 or Covovax, the vaccine produced by the Serum Institute of India under licence from Novavax.