BUSINESS STANDARD
WHO authorises AstraZeneca's
coronavirus vaccine for
emergency use
The World Health Organisation has granted an emergency
authorization to AstraZeneca's coronavirus vaccine, a move
that should allow the UN agency's partners to ship millions of
doses to countries as part of a UN-backed programme to tame the
pandemic.
In a statement Monday, the WHO said it was clearing the
AstraZeneca vaccines made by the Serum Institute of India and
South Korea's AstraZeneca-SKBio.
The WHO's green light for the AstraZeneca vaccine is only the
second one the U. N. health agency has issued after authorizing
the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine in December. Monday's
announcement should trigger the delivery of hundreds of millions
of doses to countries that have signed up for the UN-backed
COVAX effort, which aims to deliver vaccines to the world's most
vulnerable people.
Countries with no access to vaccines to date will finally be able to
start vaccinating their health workers and populations at risk,
said Dr. Mariangela Simao, the WHO's Assistant-Director General
for Access to Medicines and Health Products. Read More