WHO stops supply to UN agencies due to lack of covaxin production

The World Health Organization (WHO) has banned the supply of India's Bharat Biotech Company's Covid vaccine- Covaxin to United Nations (UN) agencies. WHO found some shortcomings in its inspection, after which it has been decided to stop the supply. The organization has given time to Bharat Biotech to upgrade the facilities and rectify the deficiencies.

The WHO said the vaccine was effective and there were no safety concerns, but the suspension of production for export would disrupt the supply of the vaccine. The WHO said that the suspension is in response to the results of the WHO's Emergency Use Listing (EUL) post-inspections from March 14 to 22.

Covaccine has been prepared by the Indian company Bharat Biotech. In January 2021, India approved two vaccines, CovaShield, developed by Oxford and manufactured by Serum Institute, Pune, and Bharat Biotech's Covaccine.

In some countries of Asia including China, where the cases of Covid are again increasing rapidly, the infections have reduced significantly in India.