No setback to Bharat Biotech even as WHO suspends Covaxin UN supply: Sources

Bharat Biotech sources have said that the company will suffer no setbacks following the World Health Organization's (WHO) move to suspend Covaxin supply through United Nations (UN) agencies.

Bharat Biotech has said that it has "not received any orders from any of the UN agencies till date", as mentioned in a report in India Today.

Sources told the news site, “After we got Indian licensure we applied for EUL [Emergency Use Listing Procedure]. The intent was to supply to UN agencies. We have not received any orders till date from any of the UN agencies. We have only supplied to India and other countries based on orders from them."

"(There is) no setbacks to Covaxin makers," they said.

The WHO had announced on Saturday that it is suspending the supply of Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin through UN agencies. The suspension came in response to the manufacturing deficiencies detected during an inspection, the statement mentioned.

The WHO said that there will be interruption of supply of Covaxin due to suspension of production for export. The risk assessment to date does not indicate change in the risk-benefit ratio. WHO data indicates the vaccine is effective and no safety concern exists, the organisation said.

WHO on April 1 announced a temporary slowdown of Covaxin production across its manufacturing centres. "For the coming period, the company will focus on pending facility maintenance, process, and facility optimisation activities," Bharat Biotech stated.

The WHO said that Bharat Biotech has committed to addressing the noted deficiencies and is developing a corrective and preventive action plan for submission to the Drugs Controller General of India and WHO.

"These are small issues, we don’t see it as a penal issue," company sources asserted.

Covaxin was approved by the WHO around five months ago. The company has also supplied vaccines to the government under the Vaccine Maitri initiative.

(With inputs from Milan Sharma)

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