WHO approval for Covaxin likely by month-end, says Niti Aayog

The approval holds significance as Covaxin will be declared safe for use in other countries and eventually enable people inoculated with it to travel abroad without mandatory quarantine.

Covaxin's manufacturer Bharat Biotech had submitted the dossier to the UN health body and it has been under review since July.

"We know of positive developments - data sharing, data evaluation going on through multiple reviews and we know that we are close to a decision point. We believe that a positive decision could be coming in before the month-end," he was quoted as saying by news agency ANI.

"We must give time to WHO to make their decision based on science and yet we hope that the decisions will be taken quickly because people who are receiving Covaxin have certain imperatives of travel etc, for which WHO's concurrence is important," added Paul, who is also a member of Niti Aayog.

The application for pre-qualification was submitted by Bharat Biotech on July 9, Minister of State for Health Bharati Pravin Pawar had told parliament.

"Based on the time taken for approval of other COVID-19 vaccines, it is estimated that the WHO process takes approximately two to three months from the date of submission," she had said.